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SHAKESPEARE'S 
AS YOU LIKE IT 



ifftacmtllan's Pocket American anti fEntjltsf) Classics 



A Series of English Texts, edited for use in Secondary Schools, 
with Critical Introductions, Notes, etc. 



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OTHERS TO FOLLOW. 




WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 



SHAKESPEARE'S 

AS YOU LIKE IT 

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
BY 

CHARLES ROBERT GASTON 

TEACHER OF ENGLISH, RICHMOND HILL HIGH SCHOOL, 
QUEENS BOROUGH, NEW YORK CITY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1902 

All rights reserved 



SRA3Y OF J 
COPVRMHT ENTSY 

C'.ASS^^XXo No 






Copyright, 1902, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped September, 1902. 



Nortoooti Jkess 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 

Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



PREFATORY NOTE 



It is hard to reconcile the editorial and educational 
attitude which aims to stimulate a high school pupil 
to enter into the soul of a great drama, grasp its in- 
forming spirit, and "inhale its choral atmosphere," 
with the attitude which would urge the student to 
grub into details and learn the exact meaning, etymo- 
logically, of every word. An attempt is* made in the 
present edition to avoid the two extremes. It would 
be deplorable for the pupil to miss the charm of As 
You Like It ; and it would be unpardonable for him 
to miss the significance of many Shakespearian words 
found in the play. In the attempt to encourage both 
sides of the study, reference has been freely made to 
the elements of dramatic charm, and suggestions have 
been offered for the detailed study of meanings. The 
editor agrees with Dr. Furnival that "while every 
boy can look out hard words in a lexicon for himself, 
not one in a score can, unhelped, catch points of and 
realize character." In the notes to each scene, there- 
fore, will be found grouped together words which 
should be studied from the dictionaries. The habit 



VI PREFATORY NOTE 

thus inculcated will, it is thought, prove invaluable. 
On the other hand, notes and suggestions regarding 
points of character and plot and comments concerning 
the play as a drama now enjoyed on the stage have 
been made with somewhat lavish hand. In the Intro- 
duction the section on the stage in Shakespeare's time 
has also been inserted for the purpose of emphasizing 
this side of the study — of the play as a play. With 
the putting of due emphasis by the teacher on both 
the form and the spirit of As You Like It, the class- 
room work on this play will doubtless be of unusual 
benefit to the pupil. 

In the Bibliography will be found mention of the 
books that have been of especial use in the prepara- 
tion of this edition. The text has been studied with 
care and will be found to agree in the main with that 
of the Temple Shakespeare. For convenience in 
using this edition with others, the line numbering of 
the best editions has been adopted. 

The mark ° after a word in the text of the play in- 
dicates that an explanation will be found under the 
proper line, scene, and act in the Notes. The title, 
As You Like It, is in the notes abbreviated, A. Y. L. 
The references to Furness are to his monumental 
Variorum edition of the play. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Prefatory Note v 

Introduction : 

William Shakespeare ix 

Shakespeare's Writings xxi 

The Stage in Shakespeare's Time .... xxix 

Lodge's Bosalynde xxxvii 

Verse Structure in As You Like It . . . . xlvi 

Subjects for Composition liii 

Questions on the Play lviii 

Bibliography ... o ... . lxiv 

AS YOU LIKE IT 1 

Notes 123 



VU 



INTRODUCTION 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEAEE 

The life of William Shakespeare began in the beau- 
tiful country town of Stratford-on-Avon and ended 
fifty-two years later on the same day at the same 
place. During the interval, however, it must not be 
supposed that the dramatist had a tranquil pastoral 
existence all these years at his birthplace. He struck 
out for himself in the largest city of the country, Lon- 
don, and spent there twenty-five years as an actor and 
writer of plays, gathering fame and accumulating suf- 
ficient property to enable him to pass the last years of 
his life in uninterrupted calm at his beloved Stratford. 

Shakespeare was born in 1564, on the twenty-third 
of April. The town of Stratford was then a place of 
about fifteen hundred inhabitants. Since then it has 
grown but little ; it now boasts a population of not 
more than ten thousand. The change in shaping of 
streets, in sanitary arrangements, and in appearance 
of buildings has, however, been great since the poet's 



X INTRODUCTION 

time. The house in Henley Street where Shakespeare 
was born has now been joined with another which 
originally stood somewhat to the west of it, and the 
two thus made one have been preserved as The Birth- 
place. The visitor to Stratford finds here a most in- 
teresting collection of Shakespeare mementoes. Our 
own Washington Irving in one of his Sketchbook 
papers gives a delightful picture of the house as it 
was in his time. Though there has been considerable 
change since Irving's day, his account is still to be 
recommended as a bit of pleasant reading. Nowadays 
the impression brought away from a visit to The Birth- 
place is likely to be particularly vivid because of the 
shilling for this and shilling for that and shilling 
for all attitude of the caretakers. The first home of 
Shakespeare will, nevertheless, always be a favorite 
resort for travellers. 

Shakespeare's father was a dealer in wool, malt, 
skins, meat, leather, corn, and all kinds of farm prod- 
uce. Thus in some biographies he is called a butcher, 
in others a glover, in others a drover. By his wide 
field of trading activity he might be called one or all 
of these. He became, before the birth of his son, a 
man of prominence in the village. He had no educa- 
tion, but in this respect did not differ from the other 
villagers. -He was elected by his townsmen to various 
positions, such as alderman, July 4, 1565, and three 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE XI 

years later bailiff, the highest position to which he 
could be chosen. His wife was Mary Arden, the 
daughter of a prosperous farmer who lived not far 
from Stratford. Two daughters preceded the boy 
William, both of whom died in infancy. William 
was christened on the twenty-sixth of April, 1564. 
From this, it is conjectured that according to the bap- 
tismal custom of the time he must have been born on 
the twenty-third or possibly the twenty-second of the 
same month and year. By way of poking fun at the 
Shakespearian scholars who assert positively that 
Shakespeare was born on the twenty-third, Mr. Sid- 
ney Lee remarks slyly that such scholars make their 
dogmatic statements apparently on the sole basis that 
William Shakespeare undoubtedly died on the twenty- 
third and hence was probably born on the same day. 

Little is definitely known about the life of young 
Shakespeare from his birth to his twenty -second year. 
By most authorities it is inferred that, because there 
was a grammar school in Stratford and because Shake- 
speare's father was in fair circumstances, the boy Will- 
iam probably attended the school. It is thought that 
he was a pupil till 1577 or 1578, when he was obliged 
to leave school on account of his father's financial diffi- 
culties. His father continued for eight or nine years 
after the birth of William to be successful in business, 
but then was forced to mortgage his property piece by 



Xll INTROD UCTION 

piece till at last, because of the danger of arrest for 
debt, lie feared even to attend the Guildhall as bailiff. 
While at school, William Shakespeare learned some- 
thing of Latin, and perhaps a little French and Greek. 
That he learned at school any language besides Eng- 
lish is assumed solely from the fact that in his plays 
he shows familiarity with Latin and French, and from 
the additional fact that schoolboys of his time usually 
studied Latin. Aubrey, quoted by Mr. Lee in his 
recent paper, " Shakespeare in Oral Tradition," says 
that the boy very early betrayed signs of poetic 
genius. 

Greater probably than the educative influence of the 
Grammar School on the boy Shakespeare was the 
influence upon him of the plays presented in 
Stratford during these years. In the course of ten 
years or so at this period, more than two dozen theat- 
ric companies were hospitably entertained at Stratford. 
Shakespeare's father, the bailiff, oflicially welcomed 
to the town of Stratford the Queen's company and the 
Earl of Worcester's company of actors. The talk of 
the villagers regarding these companies and perhaps 
the conversation of the actors themselves gave Shake- 
speare his first conception of a play. The influence 
upon William Shakespeare of these early years of ac- 
quaintance with the drama can hardly be over-esti- 
mated. 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE xill 

Another educative influence of this period before he 
went to London was the surpassingly beautiful coun- 
try round about Stratford, which he came to love with 
all his soul. Appreciating the influence of nature 
upon the great dramatist, Milton wrote in U Allegro : — 

" Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, 
Warble his native wood-notes wild." 

Through all his works there runs a tone of intimate 
acquaintance with the things of nature, as for instance 
in the soothingly descriptive phrase of As You Like 
It, III, 2, 42, "The beetle with his drowsy hums." 
It is known that he was fond of outdoor life, and it 
may be surmised that in these impressionable years 
he laid the foundations for the true and accurate 
knowledge of nature which he later showed in his 
plays. 

Five years after the time when he was forced to 
discontinue his schooling, Shakespeare was married, 
though then only a youth of eighteen, to Anne Hath- 
away. A daughter, Susanna, was born in May, 1583, 
and twins, Hamnet and Judith, were born in Febru- 
ary, 1585. Anne Hathaway was the daughter of a 
farmer who lived about a mile from Stratford. No 
record of the marriage appears in the parish register 
at Stratford, but an interesting marriage bond has 
been discovered, dated 1583, so that there is no doubt 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

that this was the year in which Shakespeare was mar- 
ried. What the young man did for a living during 
these years is not positively known. There is a tra- 
dition that he worked with his father. On the strength 
of this supposition, he has been dubbed " butcher boy " 
by some of his biographers, for his father appears by 
this time to have limited his unsuccessful activities to 
dealing in meats. What Shakespeare really did, mat- 
ters little; the important thing is that he was wide 
awake to the life going on about him and was becom- 
ing insensibly steeped in the natural scenery of the 
place. His powers of observation were becoming keen 
and accurate. His knowledge of human nature and 
the physical world of beauty was becoming thorough, 
extensive, and vital. He appears to have had great 
fondness for outdoor sport, so that the tradition that 
he was forced to leave the country because of his 
share in a poaching exploit on the property of Sir 
Thomas Lucy seems not preposterous. At any rate, 
he did leave Stratford, in 1586, on foot, to take up a 
new phase of his life, in London. 

During his London life, which may be said to ex- 
tend from 1586 (1587 according to Dowden) to 1611, 
Shakespeare was busy at various occupations, all, 
however, intimately connected with the stage. It is 
said, and some of the latest and most authoritative 
critics are inclined to accept the tradition, that Shake- 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE XV 

speare first gained his living in London by holding 
horses for men of fashion, who always rode out in the 
country to the theatre on afternoons when plays were 
presented. One of the most scholarly writers of recent 
years, Mr. Lee, cautiously ventures the remark that 
there is no " inherent improbability in the tale." Mr. 
Dowden, on the other hand, is the most emphatic 
among the critics who scout this tradition. If Shake- 
speare did commence in this humble way, he did not 
long remain at so menial an occupation. He soon 
began to take minor parts in the theatre, and before 
long was writing plays himself. Regarding the parts 
which he played, little has come down to us. There 
is some reason for believing, on the authority of the 
poet's brother, that Shakespeare played the part of 
Adam in As You Like It. He certainly played many 
other parts, with fair success. He became associated 
with a company of actors who enjoyed the patronage 
of Lord Leicester and of Queen Elizabeth. With this 
company he acted for some time at The Theatre, then 
he went with them to the Rose Theatre. He is said 
to have appeared twice with Richard Burbage, the 
greatest tragic actor of the period, before Queen Eliza- 
beth — one of these occasions being at Christmas time 
in 1593. 

As an actor Shakespeare will always be best known 
by reason of his connection with the famous Globe 



xyi INTRODUCTION 

Theatre, a short description of which appears in another 
section of this Introduction. At the Globe Theatre, 
which was built on the site of The Theatre, demolished 
to make way for it, Shakespeare acted for many years. 
He became one of the managers of the theatre, and 
made considerable profit out of his managerial connec- 
tion with the stage. During the most productive pe- 
riod of his life, too, he appears to have written two 
plays a year, so that by means of acting and managing 
and writing he earned a good income. That the peo- 
ple of his native town well understood his growing 
prosperity is plain from the fact that in 1598 Abra- 
ham Sturley wrote to Richard Quiney saying that by 
aid of Shakespeare certain favors, greatly desired, 
might probably be gained from Lord Burleigh, and 
from the further fact that in this same year Richard 
Quiney wrote to Shakespeare asking for a loan of £30. 
When the greater purchasing power of money in the 
dramatist's time is considered, it will be seen that Quiney 
asked for no insignificant loan. To get an adequate 
idea of sums of money mentioned regarding the end 
of the sixteenth century, the reader must remember 
that the ratio is about one to eight. One pound in 
Shakespeare's day would buy nearly as much as eight 
pounds now. Obviously, therefore, the prosperity of 
the Globe playwright was becoming well known in 
little Stratford. 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE XVll 

A brief summary, such as this, of Shakespeare's life 
in Loudon, must not lead the student to suppose that 
the poet and dramatist lived continuously and unin- 
terruptedly in London all these twenty-five years. He 
went back and forth often between Stratford and London. 
It is thought that during part of the time he had his 
family with him in the city. Yet during most of the 
years Shakespeare probably left his family at Stratford, 
while he was earning a comfortable fortune. He lived 
for some time at Southwark, which was near the 
theatres. Some authorities believe that in 1592 or 
1593 he made a visit to Italy. This, however, is not 
probable. The company of actors with which he was 
connected made many trips to smaller towns through 
England. In this way Shakespeare was more than 
once at Oxford, Faversham, Shrewsbury, Folkestone, 
Coventry, Dover, Bristol, Bath, and Rye. 

In 1611 Shakespeare moved to Stratford to live with 
all of his remaining family, i.e. his wife and his two 
daughters, Susanna and Judith. His son Hamnet had 
died in 1596, his father in 1601, and his mother in 
1608. At Stratford Shakespeare lived in the house on 
his estate, New Place, which he had bought in 1597 
for £60, and which is one of the most interesting build- 
ings that have come down to us from the poet's time. 
It was a substantial timber and brick house of consid- 
erable size, built in the preceding century. It stood 



xvih INTRODUCTION 

at the corner of Chapel Street and Chapel Lane, oppo- 
site the Guild chapel. Shakespeare lived here com- 
fortably, even luxuriously, from the profits of his 
plays. His later years appear to have been altogether 
pleasant, offering a remarkable contrast to the last 
days of one of his dramatic rivals, Christopher Mar- 
lowe, who was stabbed in a tavern brawl, June 1, 
1593. Yet even before Shakespeare's death, the Puri- 
tan reaction against the stage had begun. In 1612 
the town council of Stratford passed a resolution in 
which the countenancing of plays was declared to be 
" against the example of other well-governed cities 
and boroughs," and in which a penalty was laid on 
actors. 

Shakespeare signed his will in March, 1616, and 
died April 23, of the same year. He was buried 
April 25, inside the chancel of Holy Trinity church, 
near the northern wall. By the terms of his will 
his wife received his second-best bed with the fur- 
nishings, while his daughter Susanna received the 
greater* part of the estate, including New Place, the 
properties in the neighborhood of Stratford, and 
the house in Blackfriars, London; and his daughter 
Judith received a small property in Chapel Lane, a 
sum of money, and certain pieces of plate. Besides, 
various smaller bequests were made to his sister, his 
nephews, his old London friends John Heminge, Rich- 



WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE XIX 

arcl Burbage, and Henry Condell, and his godson 
William Walker. Money, too, was left to the poor of 
Stratford. 

The actors Heminge and Condell deserve the grati- 
tude of lovers of Shakespeare, because they collected 
the plays in 1623 and printed them in what is known 
as the First Folio edition of the dramatist's works. 
In Dr. Furness's Variorum Shakespeare will be found 
exact reproductions of the First Folio texts of the dif- 
ferent plays. Considering the inaccurate modes of 
typesetting of the time, the text of the plays in this 
edition is fairly good. 

These two fellow actors of Shakespeare make in this 
First Folio edition three important statements about 
their friend : — 

1. That to Shakespeare and his plays in his life- 
time was invariably extended the fullest favor of the 
court and its leading officers. 

2. That death deprived him of the opportunity he 
had loug contemplated of preparing his literary work 
for the press. 

3. That he wrote with so rapidly flowing a pen 
that his manuscript was never defaced by alteration 
or erasure. 

To this last observation, Ben Jonson, another con- 
temporary player, adds that Heminge and Condell 
would often mention to him Shakespeare's rapidity of 



XX .INTRODUCTION 

composition. Jonson was in the habit of arguing that 
Shakespeare's work would have been better had he 
devoted more time to its correction. He says that 
Shakespeare "was indeed honest and of an open and 
free nature, had an excellent phantasy, brave notions 
and gentle expressions, wherein he flowed with that 
facility that sometimes it ivas necessary he should be 
stopped" 

. Regarding Shakespeare's estate, the remark is made 
by one of the recent investigators that the dramatist 
harvested his resources with a steady hand. The 
money that he earned in London he invested for the 
building up of the fortunes of his family in Stratford. 
He was generous always, yet never prodigal. While 
other men of his profession were wasting their re- 
sources in disorderly living, he was saving his for his 
family. To be sure, a Stratford curate who lived 
toward the end of the century in which Shakespeare 
died reported his discovery that Shakespeare was able 
in his last years to spend " at the rate of £1000 a 
year," and that shortly before his death he entertained 
Drayton and Ben Jonson at " a merry meeting " from 
the effects of which he met his death. The implica- 
tion, however, that Shakespeare died from too much 
conviviality has been discredited by later students. 
Altogether, then, the last years of Shakespeare, who 
may reasonably be called a self-made dramatist, af- 



SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS XXI 

ford basis for quiet contemplation of the success that 
comes to him who has genius, lives moderately, and 
works hard. 

SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS 

The reader will recall the statement in the preced- 
ing section that Shakespeare, not long after his arrival 
in London, began recasting various old plays for use 
by the company of actors with which he was con- 
nected. About the time of these first attempts at play 
writing, Shakespeare composed a series of sonnets 
which have been much discussed by critics during the 
past century. The sonnets as a whole are not studied 
by high school students ; only a few of these poems 
ever come to the attention of the boy and girl in 
school. Yet it seems advisable, in beginning a brief 
discussion of Shakespeare's writings, to take a glance 
at the general nature of the sonnets. 

First of all it should be understood that the sonnets 
of Shakespeare are not written in the usual sonnet 
form of the present day. The strictly classical sonnet, 
modelled after the Italian form, consists of fourteen 
lines, of which the first eight are a unit in thought, 
called the octave ; and the last six, also complete in 
themselves though following as an application of the 
thought of the octave, are another unit, called the ses- 



xxii INTRODUCTION 

tet. A period or full stop follows the octave. If this 
form of poetry is the only form which may strictly be 
called sonnet, Shakespeare's sonnets are not really 
" sonnets " at all, for, although they are fourteen lines 
in length and are decasyllabic, they do not consist of 
an octave and a sestet. Since these poems of Shake- 
speare are always called sonnets, it is necessary to ac- 
cept a wider definition of sonnet which will include 
them. Shakespeare's sonnets are composed of three 
groups of four lines each, to which are added as the 
final lines a couplet. For example, one of the most 
characteristic of the sonnets is as follows : — 

" Full many a glorious morning have I seen 

Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye, 
Kissing with golden face the meadows green, 

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchymy ; 
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride 

With ugly rack on his celestial face, 
And from the forlorn world his visage hide, 

Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace. 
Even so my sun one early morn did shine, 

With all triumphant splendor, on my brow ; 
But out, alack ! he was but one hour mine, 

The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now. 
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth ; 
Suns of the world may stain, when heaven's sun staineth." 

Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to two different 
persons. Whether these two persons were real or not, 



SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS XXlll 

whether they actually lived or were merely creations of 
Shakespeare's poetic imagination, are mooted questions 
that do not concern us here. What is important to 
understand is that through all the sonnets is seen 
clearly the story of a poetical expression of affection 
toward a young man and a young woman. The man, 
loved by the poet with an intense and earnest affec- 
tion, wins for himself the love of the young woman, 
and in consequence the poet's verse is filled with sor- 
row and reproaches. That Shakespeare has put into 
the sonnets much of the imagination and keen insight 
into human motives that characterize his best dra- 
matic work cannot be questioned. So much will per- 
haps suffice to give the reader a general impression of 
the nature of a portion of Shakespeare's writings with 
which every student should be acquainted. 

When we come to the more familiar part of Shake- 
speare's work, we find at once that it can most easily 
be considered under the usual divisions of Historical 
plays, Comedies, and Tragedies. No attempt will be 
made to discuss each individual play. Complete lists 
may readily be found in any of the larger books on 
English literature or in one of the numerous single 
volume editions of Shakespeare. The historical plays 
represent the earliest period of Shakespeare's develop- 
ment as a dramatist. In these he took his facts from 
chronicle writers like Holinshed, or earlier dramatists 



XXIV INTRODUCTION 

like Marlowe, and worked them over after his own 
fashion into dramas wholly different from his sources. 
Instead of trying to cover a whole reign, for instance, 
in a play, he selected and shaped incidents that would 
make a dramatic unit. What he was learning to do 
when he wrote the historical dramas was to present 
men in action. He did not stick faithfully to history, 
yet he presented his characters as acting so realisti- 
cally that even such a distinguished statesman as 
Chatham acknowledged that he learned all his English 
history from Shakespeare. Sometimes he depicts a 
character in an entirely different aspect from the 
true historical view. He makes Richard III a hunch- 
back when the most that real history tells us is that 
Richard was possibly built with one shoulder slightly 
higher than the other, being a man of most pleasing 
and even perfect physical appearance except for this 
imperfection. In one case, too, Shakespeare seems to 
describe his own son Hamnet under the guise of a his- 
torical character in a play, and he causes one character 
to lament in the manner of his own lament over the 
death of his young son. His main power as a writer 
of historical plays has been well said by Mr. Mabie to 
lie in his presentation of the dominant English asser- 
tiveness which distinguished the Elizabethan age and 
has made England a world power from that time to 
this. 



SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS XXV 

In the comedies, Shakespeare appears as a true 
humorist. He has the larger view that keeps his 
humor from degenerating into a mere sneer fit only 
to raise a laugh. He bubbles over with the joy of 
living. He rarely descends to pure farce. He raises 
the theatre-goer or the reader with him to his cheer- 
ful mood. He does not use his plays as a means for 
caricaturing individual persons whom he dislikes, 
though, to be sure, there is a belief handed down from 
early years that he did in one character take the op- 
portunity of making fun of a man of his time ; it is 
said that Shakespeare had in mind Sir Thomas Lucy 
when, he drew the character of Justice Shallow in 
The Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir Thomas Lucy, it 
will be remembered, was the owner of the estate on 
which, according to tradition, Shakespeare was " taken 
prisoner, and carried to the keeper's lodge, where he 
remained all night in doleful captivity." Though the 
tradition that Shakespeare caricatured Lucy may be 
true, this was not the custom of the peerless drama- 
tist. His humor is too kindly for him to resort often 
to caricature of contemporaries. His comedies are 
free from the jarring personal element that marks an 
inferior dramatist. One cannot imagine a Shakespeare 
lampooning an enemy in a play as Pope did in a 
satire. Shakespeare's humor gives joy to the ages. 

The comedies of Shakespeare are entertaining be- 



XXVI INTROD UC TION 

cause of the humorous situations with which they 
abound, but they are enjoyed by all men not because 
of the ludicrous action, but because of the characters. 
These are real living persons moulded from his imagi- 
nation or infused with life from the stock figures of 
the plays which he adapts or rewrites. When he has 
completed his characters at the end of the last act, 
they stand out alive for all time. In his historical 
plays Shakespeare grasped the national Elizabethan 
spirit of England and passed the knowledge of it 
along to future generations. In his comedies he real- 
ized the merriest side of human life, and with it has 
made the world merrier ever since. 

Comedy springs from the same source as tragedy. 
The greatest writer of comedy might be equally suc- 
cessful in writing tragedy. Shakespeare's tragedies 
are probably played more often than his comedies. It 
is by perfecting himself in a tragedy of Shakespeare 
and obtaining wide recognition for successful inter- 
pretation of a supreme tragic role that the accom- 
plished actor of the day makes sure for himself a 
place in the short list of names of distinguished 
Shakespearian actors. The tragedies of Shakespeare 
mark the climax of his dramatic genius and skill. In 
them he shows his widest view of life and his most 
perfect art in construction. He was now at the height 
of his success in life, so far as success is measured by 



SHAKESPEARE'S WRITINGS xxvii 

property, friends, physical ease, and assured position. 
Yet he had been sobered by the death of his father 
and of his son Hamnet. One of the friends whom he 
most admired had lost his life in an alleged plot 
against Queen Elizabeth. The Puritan reaction against 
the stage had already begun to set in. The most 
prominent play-writers of the day were engaged in a 
bitter controversy. Thus many influences were begin- 
ning to stir the serious side of his own nature. As a 
result, he produced the masterpieces of tragedy which 
have been translated into all languages and have been 
universal in their appeal to the instincts of human 
experience. 

In Julius Ccesar he turned from his previous sources 
of early chronicle and inferior plays to the matchless 
biographies of Plutarch. The story which he found 
in Plutarch he formed into a tragedy of remarkable 
vitality. In Hamlet he made use of a story familiar 
for generations before his time and known everywhere 
through northern Europe during the fifteenth century. 
He changed the form of the story, making in his 
drama an inevitable tragic conclusion. In Macbeth he 
again made use of early history, but transformed it to 
suit the needs of his tragedy. About each of these 
plays there clings a vast library of commentary and 
controversy. Some critics have argued that Julius 
Ccesar is improperly named, that Brutus is the hero 



xxviii INTRODUCTION 

and not Caesar ; that Hamlet is a play having for its 
hero a young man insane and irresponsible ; and that 
Macbeth presents as its central character a man urged on 
to diabolic crimes by the fatal influence of the witches, 
or else completely dominated by the overpowering 
personality of an evil genius, his wife. Other critics 
have contended, on the other hand, that Caesar is truly 
the ruling power which determines all parts of the 
tragedy ; that Hamlet is a youth of the most sensitive 
nature, feigning insanity for years, and at last over- 
whelmed by the turn of outward circumstances ; and 
that Macbeth is a free agent becoming more and more 
embroiled in the villanies of his own voluntary wick- 
edness. The fact that Shakespeare could produce 
tragedies calling out such diverse opinions and aston- 
ishing resources of critical exegesis must be set down 
to his masterful grasp of life in all its complexities, 
and must be considered the crowning tribute to his 
power and insight as a world's dramatist. 

Regarding other tragedies of Shakespeare little 
need be said in this brief sketch. Mr. Mabie ranks the 
tragedies of Othello and King Lear along with Hamlet 
and Macbeth as Shakespeare's masterpieces ; and he 
characterizes King Lear as the play in which "the 
tragic art of Shakespeare reaches its sublimest height," 
as, in fact, " the greatest dramatic achievement of our 
race." If the student can in school be stimulated to 



THE STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME xxix 

read for himself and make his own spiritual possession 
the tragedy of King Lear, or any one of the tragedies, 
or comedies, or historical plays of Shakespeare that he 
is not required to read in a course, he may count that 
day blessed on which his parents determined upon giv- 
ing him the privileges and opportunities of a second- 
ary school education. 



THE STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME 

Nowadays when a play of Shakespeare is performed, 
the characters are dressed in costumes intended to 
represent with some accuracy the kind of apparel 
which persons of the time indicated in the play prob- 
ably wore. For instance, in the staging of the play 
Julius Ccesar, some of the actors are made to wear 
loose, flowing togas constructed with an eye to histor- 
ical accuracy ; and in As You Like It the foresters 
wear garments such as actual foresters of the early 
period of English history really wore. Again, at the 
present time when Shakespeare is on the boards, elab- 
orate scenery is often prepared in order to show the 
exact locality where the action takes place, as, for 
example, in the city of Rome or of Venice, beside a 
beautiful flowing stream or in front of the palace of 
a king. 



XXX INTRODUCTION 

All this attempt at dressing the part and helping 
the playgoer by accurate and beautiful scenery was 
wholly neglected in Shakespeare's time. When Shake- 
speare was himself an actor in plays, the characters, 
it is true, were often garbed in rich costumes, as may 
be seen from an old account book of one of the theatres, 
where there is an item of £19 for a single velvet cloak, 
and where there is mention of the cost of the silk and 
taffeta used in numerous splendid costumes. But these 
were not designed accurately to represent the part. 
The same rich clothes answered for all types of plays, 
and were worn indifferently by actors representing peas- 
ants in the inn yard, nobles in the court, or soldiers 
on the battlefield. Perhaps a crown might be worn 
by a king or a sword might be carried by a soldier; 
otherwise there was no dressing of the part. More- 
over, there was no arrangement of scenery to help the 
observer to understand the true appearance of the place 
where the action occurred. If it was desired to repre- 
sent a counting-house on the sixteenth century stage, 
a table on which were the materials for writing had 
to serve the purpose. If the drama called for an upper 
room in one scene, battlements in another, a hillside 
in still another, and even Mount Olympus in a fourth, 
the same rude balcony at the back of the stage had to 
do duty for all. Sir Philip Sidney in his Defense of 
Poesie commented on the necessity for imagining the 



THE STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME xxxi 

same bare timbers to represent in quick succession a 
garden, a rocky coast, a cave, and a battlefield ; and 
for believing Africa to be on one side of the stage and 
Asia on the other. Baker, however, takes the position 
that, at least in the private Blackf riars Theatre, there 
was considerable scenery early in the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Still, it may be said regarding most of the 
theatres that if the actors desired to show that they 
were presenting a scene which occurred in Kome, 
they simply put up in the front part of the stage a 
placard: Rome. Then, if the scene changed, they 
erected another placard in a different part of the stage, 
reading perhaps : Field of Philippi. That such cru- 
dity is wholly apart from our modern notions of stag- 
ing may be seen from the anecdote told by Sir Henry 
Irving, the great Shakespearian actor, regarding a 
remarkable performance which he once gave at West 
Point, " where there was no scenery, and where we had 
to put up signs which read, ' This is a court,' ' This is 
a street/ and so on." (New York Sun, October 15, 
1901.) The same stage arrangement, on the contrary, 
served in Shakespearian days as a matter of course for 
practically any place necessary, and no one thought of 
the incongruity. In short, it may be said that no con- 
sideration was given to the time and place of the play. 
Mr. Brander Matthews in his Studies of the Stage sums 
up the matter by remarking that the stage appliances 



xxxii INTRODUCTION 

of Shakespeare's time were so few and scanty as to be 
almost wholly absent. "The physical conditions of 
the stage under Shakespeare are altogether other than 
those of our time." 

Furthermore, if the play called for a large army, a 
few members of the acting company had to serve for 
the " army." The companies of actors consisted usu- 
ally of but ten or a dozen persons, of whom only two 
or three were really actors. The rest were what we call 
supernumeraries ; they were paid so much a job, just 
as a carpenter or a shoemaker might be paid. The 
company with which Shakespeare acted at the Globe 
Theatre in 1599 is pointed out as exceptionally large, 
since it consisted of sixteen persons. The imagina- 
tion of the playgoer, obviously, had to be used ; the 
eager observer by his lively imagination came to 
believe that the half dozen straggling actors repre- 
sented, say, all of Brutus's army. In the chorus which 
serves as prologue to Henry Fthe dramatist begs the 
audience to let their " imaginary forces work," to sup- 
plement " imperfections with their thoughts," and to 
imagine that, when there is talk of horses, they see 
the horses " printing their proud hoofs in the receiv- 
ing earth." In all this the idea of the dramatist evi- 
dently is that spectacular machinery could be of no 
use without imagination, and that, with imagination, 
scenery might be neglected. To most persons of to- 



THE STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME xxxiii 

day the stage settings of the Elizabethan age would 
seem laughably crude and inadequate. The audience 
was interested in those days not in where the actor 
was, but altogether in what he was doing. 

Again, even with so small a company of actors, an- 
other limitation was imposed. Women never appeared 
on the stage to take the roles supposed to be played 
by women. Instead, small boys or young men whose 
voices were suitable took all female parts. That which 
makes half the fun of a college play where young men 
take the female roles was accepted without comment 
in Shakespeare's time. It became particularly diffi- 
cult for the Elizabethan boy " actress " when he had 
to play the part of a lady who at some point in the 
drama assumed the disguise of a man. The task for 
the youthful player then was to pretend to be a boy 
and yet not to show too plainly that he was a boy. 
The part of a Rosalind, it may be conjectured, was 
not easy to fill satisfactorily — a fact which Shake- 
speare himself seems to have recognized, for he makes 
Rosalind in the epilogue of As You Like It say, " If 
I were a woman, I would kiss as many." 

These peculiarities of the staging of a play in Shake- 
speare's era must be clearly comprehended in order 
that the student may read any one of the plays intelli- 
gently. Various references to the modes of dress in 
the playwright's own time may, for example, bewilder 



xxxiv INTRODUCTION 

the young student who has gone far enough in his 
studies to detect apparent inaccuracies and anachro- 
nisms in the matter of dress and manners in Julius 
Ccesar or Macbeth. There are in Julius Ccesar numer- 
ous references to doublets (Act I, Scene 2) and other 
articles of dress worn in the sixteenth century, but 
not known at all in the century before the birth of 
Christ. 

In As You Like It there is particular necessity for 
understanding the manner of stage representation in 
Shakespeare's day. This play seems now to depend 
largely on scenic effects, particularly when the scene 
is laid in the Forest of Arden with the different kinds 
of trees appearing prominently in the background. 
The need for knowing about the Elizabethan mode of 
playing this comedy and other dramas, practically 
without scenery, may be realized from a schoolroom 
incident. Line 186 of Act III, Scene 2, contains a 
reference to a palm tree in the Forest of Arden. 
When asked why the dramatist included pakn trees 
among the trees of the forest, a high school senior 
ingeniously suggested that it was probably because 
palms could more easily be secured for the stage than 
oak trees or maple trees. In the light of the present, 
this answer was not preposterous, for certainly a palm 
would now be easier to secure in a city for the stage 
than an oak or a maple. Yet, when one is aware of 



THE STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME XXXV 

the real conditions under which Shakespeare's plays 
were first presented — that not even pictures of trees 
were customarily employed — one can see that the 
senior's reason was purely fanciful. Since the Forest 
of Arden of the play is not in any definite country, 
the insertion of a reference to palms or olives cannot 
be condemned as an inaccuracy, nor on the other hand 
can it be praised as an attempt to lighten the work of 
stage presentation. As You Like It, when played for 
the first time almost exactly three hundred years ago, 
had no assistance from the art of the scene shifter. 

Regarding the theatre itself, a few words may be 
written. The playhouse frequently resembled an an- 
cient inn yard, which had an open area and two or 
three tiers- of galleries with rooms at the back. In 
fact, Baker holds that the inn yard served as a model 
for the first English theatre. One theatre, the For- 
tune, had a stage forty-three feet wide and thirty-nine 
and one-half feet deep, including the tiring-room at 
the rear. Though the distance from the floor to the 
ceiling was only thirty-two feet, there were three gal- 
leries. The stage jutted out into the pit, or open, un- 
roofed portion of the house. In some of the theatres 
the stage proper was largely occupied by spectators, 
and was visible from all sides. Ordinarily the stage 
was strewn with rushes and was partially concealed 
by a curtain. The men of fashion paid a shilling for 



xxxvi INTRODUCTION 

admission and an extra shilling for a three-legged 
stool on the stage. Here they chatted and smoked at 
pleasure. They assumed the privilege of making re- 
marks during the play to the actors whenever they 
pleased. The poorer enthusiasts paid a few pence for 
standing-room in the pit. These " pitters " or " ground- 
lings " or " undertakers," as they were variously called, 
chaffed each other and the players, quarrelled, scuffled, 
drank beer, and when necessary ran to the garbage 
barrel placed conveniently in the centre. Truly the 
pit, ill- smelling and often profane, was not a cheerful 
subject for contemplation to any spectator of finer 
sensibilities a century or two in advance of his time. 
For a brief but extremely vivid account of this feature 
of the theatre, resort should be had to Taine's brilliant 
study of English prose literature, Book II, Chapter II. 
One theatre in London is famous because of Shake- 
speare's prominent connection with it. This is the 
Globe Theatre, built in the outskirts of the city, on the 
Bankside, South wark, in 1597, at a cost of £600. It 
was a hexagon in shape, and was built of wood. It 
had for its sign Atlas supporting the world, beneath 
which was the motto Totus mundus agit Mstrionem. 
Since As You Like It was first produced in this the- 
atre, some writers have conjectured that this motto 
served Shakespeare as a suggestion for his lines be- 
ginning, " All the world's a stage." The covered part 



LODGE'S « ROSALYNDE" XXXVll 

of the building was roofed with straw. This famous 
structure was burned in 1613, during the performance 
of one of Shakespeare's last plays, Henry VIII. Ac- 
cording to the generally accepted story of its burning, 
the theatre was set on fire by wadding from a cannon 
which was shot off in the course of the play. Inside 
of an hour (two hours, in the opinion of Mr. Baker), 
the whole building was in ashes. The point of particu- 
lar interest about the destruction of the Globe is that 
this performance appears to have marked a distinct 
step toward the elaborate stage machinery and " up- 
holstery " of later days ; for extraordinary care had 
been spent on the scenery and costuming for this dis- 
astrous presentation. In the beginning of Shake- 
speare's connection with the stage, there was no such 
anxiety to make scenery or cannons correspond with 
the action of the play. 

LODGE'S "ROSALYNDE" 

A slightly stained but otherwise perfect copy of 
the editio princeps of Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde was 
sold lately for two hundred guineas. The book was 
imprinted by Thomas Orwin for T. G. and John 
Busbie, 1590. George Steevens says that in As You 
Like It Shakespeare followed this work of Lodge 
more exactly than is his general custom when he is 



XXXV111 INTRODUCTION 

indebted to such originals. Only one other copy of 
this first edition has been traced in over a century, 
and that one copy lacked four leaves, so that the copy 
which was sold for two hundred guineas is unique. 
That so high a price as this was obtained for the 
volume is probably due, however, in large measure, to 
the general impression that Shakespeare used Rosa- 
lynde in making his unmatched pastoral comedy of 
As You Like It. A summary of the contents of the 
novel will help to make the study of the play inter- 
esting by affording a basis for consideration of the 
question how vastly superior the drama is to the origi- 
nal story. 

A father, Sir John of Bordeaux, on his death-bed 
bequeathed his property to his three sous, Saladine, 
Fernandine, and Eosader. He particularly enjoined 
upon the brothers to dwell together in amity. After 
his death, Fernandine was sent off by the oldest 
brother to the university for an education, Saladine 
developed considerable skill in managing the estate, 
and Rosader, the youngest, was kept at home as a 
menial servant on the family property. This con- 
tinued for some time. Fernandine, in fact, appears 
scarcely at all in the story ; he remained quietly at 
the university, cultivating his mind and learning the 
graces of good manners. 



LODGE'S " ROSALYNDE" xxxix 

The oldest and the youngest brother, on the other 
hand, are active throughout the narrative. Their 
enmity and final reconciliation impress the father's 
dying request as a moral on the mind of the reader. 
The youngest son, Rosader, feeling his manhood stir- 
ring within him, rebelled at the lack of advantages 
offered him by his oldest brother. When a celebrated 
wrestler appeared at the court of King Torismond, 
Rosader met the wrestler and overcame him. At the 
time of the encounter he fell in love with Rosalynde, 
daughter of the rightful king, Gerismond, whose 
throne Torismond had usurped. 

On the day of the wrestling match Torismond 
banished from his kingdom his niece Rosalynde and 
his daughter Alinda, who pleaded with her father to 
change his mind about banishing Rosalynde. The 
two girls went to the Forest of Arden, in France, 
where Rosalynde's father was in exile, living as a 
King of Outlaws. Before starting into the unknown 
paths of the forest, Rosalynde donned the garments 
of a page to act as protector to Alinda, and assumed 
the name of Ganimede. After Rosalynde and Alinda 
had left the court, Rosader was forced by his brother 
also to flee, for the two brothers had now become 
intensely hostile to each other. First Saladine chained 
Rosader in the house and exhibited him to friends of 
the family as a lunatic. Then Rosader, with the aid 



xl INTRODUCTION 

of old Adam, a faithful servant of the lamented Sir 
John of Bordeaux, escaped from his chains, broke 
through a band of lusty sheriffs' followers, and safely 
reached the same forest to which Rosalynde (Gani- 
mede) and Alinda had made their unprotected way. 
Here he found employment as forester in the service 
of the banished King of Outlaws, Gerismond. He 
passed his spare time in making sonnets to Rosalynde, 
whom he had loved at first sight, but whom he now 
never dreamed of seeing again. 

Rosalynde (Ganimede) and Alinda discovered some 
of the sonnets, posted on trees ; by and by they had 
the happiness to meet Rosader himself. Rosalynde, 
still dressed as the page of Alinda, and so not recog- 
nized by Rosader, persuaded the valiant wrestler to 
make love to her dressed in male garb as she was, as 
if she were really his adorable Rosalynde. In order 
to test Rosader, she even tried, without effect, to make 
him transfer his affections to her companion Alinda. 
This idyllic wooing continued until Rosader discovered 
his brother Saladine in the forest, who, it appears, 
had been banished thither by the usurping king. This 
king had a way of getting rid of the people whose 
property he coveted. Rosader rescued Saladine from 
a lion, and the two brothers became reconciled. Sala- 
dine promptly fell in love with Alinda and arranged 
to marry her on a Sunday. 



LODGE'S " ROSALYNDE" xli 

Before the marriage day, however, a band of rob- 
bers, hearing of the remarkable beauty of Alinda, 
tried to kidnap her one morning when she was in the 
company of Rosader and Ganimede. Rosader offered 
a stanch resistance, but was overpowered by numbers. 
Luckily Saladine arrived in the nick of time to rescue 
the party. Rosalynde (Ganimede) on the day ap- 
pointed for Alinda's marriage revealed herself to her 
father in her own person, putting off the page's attire 
which she had thus far worn in the forest and taking 
again her real name, Eosalynde. Then she married 
Rosader. At the same time Saladine and Alinda were 
married. While the couples were enjoying the wed- 
ding dinner " in the parlor," the university son, Fer- 
nandine, brought news of the approach of an army 
under the usurping king. The rightful king and the 
three sons of Sir John of Bordeaux joined an army, 
hastily gathered, and won a big victory over the 
usurper, who was fortunately killed in the battle. 
Then all, being restored to their rightful estates and 
being securely married, were happy. 

A skeleton narrative such as this fails to take into 
account the little details of the action that hold one's 
interest throughout. The making of sonnets by Rosa- 
der and Rosalynde, by Saladine and Alinda, must be 
passed by entirely. The details of the quarrels be- 
tween Rosader and Saladine and of their final recon- 



xlii INTRODUCTION 

ciliation have not found a place in the outline. 
Moreover, several entertaining minor characters have 
not been mentioned at all. Two shepherds, Coridon 
and Montanus, and a shepherdess, Phoebe, have been 
purposely overlooked in the simplification of the nar- 
rative. Phoebe scorned Montanus, but fell in love 
with Rosalynde (Ganimede). The beautiful page 
finally turned Phoebe's love over to Montanus, and 
these two made a third couple on the festive wedding 
day. Yet, though details have been omitted, the 
account given fairly represents the plot of Lodge's 
Hosalynde. 

The questions now arise, how far is Shakespeare 
indebted to Lodge for the incidents of his As You 
Like It, and how far has he departed from the source 
of his play ? How largely he has drawn on the novel 
may be readily understood by comparing the narrative 
just given with the plot of the drama. In Shake- 
speare's comedy two brothers quarrel. One, the 
youngest of three sons, flees to the Forest of Arden, 
after having defeated a burly wrestler and won the 
unavowed love of the niece of an outlawed duke. The 
eldest brother soon follows, banished by the usurping 
duke with the command that he search out his brother 
and produce him at the court of the duke. Before the 
departure of the eldest brother, two young ladies, one 
the daughter of the reigning duke and the other her 



LODGE'S " ROSALYNDE" xliii 

cousin, daughter of the rightful, but exiled duke, also 
flee to the forest. In the forest the two brothers and 
the two cousins meet and avow their love. The two 
brothers are reconciled to each other, about as in the 
novel. The middle brother appears in the play with 
the news that the usurping duke has seen the error of 
his way and has resigned his throne in favor of his 
elder brother, the proper ruler. The play closes with 
cheerful music and rustic gambols preparatory to the 
marriage. In the play the shepherd and shepherdess 
are also ready to be married with the two other 
couples. 

From this account the reader will observe that the 
plot in the two works is in its main outlines substan- 
tially the same. The most striking differences are the 
omission of the death-bed scene, when the father be- 
queathed his property to his three sons, the cutting 
out of the actual marriages, and the neglecting to 
insert the fight between the two armies and the rescue 
of Celia from the robbers. The first omission may be 
accounted for by the necessity for shortening the time 
of action in the drama, the second by the need for 
compressing all into five acts and for leaving some- 
thing to the imagination, and the third by the desire 
to avoid on the stage a scene which would distinctly 
mar the play as a comedy, which would in fact make 
it a tragedy, since the offending character loses his 



xliv INTRODUCTION 

life by violence. The clash of arms, too, with the rob- 
bers would be scarcely appropriate in Shakespeare's 
comedy. 

This last omission, however, has given occasion for 
the most serious criticism that has been made on the 
structure of the play. Is it plausible for Oliver to 
marry Celia (Aliena) ? Has there been presented in 
the play anything to make it seem likely that Celia 
would fall in love with Oliver or Oliver with Celia ? 
Must the match be set down solely to the familiar 
" Love at first sight " ? Must we accept the situation 
only because the author has put it in the play, and 
not dare to consider it a blemish ? Numerous critics 
have held up their hands in dismay at the discovery 
of this piece of what they deem faulty construction. 
Gollancz, for instance, in his introduction to the Tem- 
ple Classics edition of Shakespeare says that the 
omission of some motive for Celia's ready acceptance 
of Oliver's suit produces "the only unsatisfactory ele- 
ment in the whole play." Swinburne speaks of this 
as the " one unlucky slip of the brush " on a corner of 
the canvas. Yet, as Swinburne suggests, undoubtedly 
Shakespeare's one " slip " is better than George Sand's 
transference of Celia's hand to Jaques. In this par- 
ticular, Shakespeare would better have taken a hint 
from Eosalynde. He might have caused one of the 
characters to tell how Oliver rescued Celia from a 



lodge's "hosalynde" xlv 

band of robbers that was on the point of kidnapping 
her. 

Though there are only these main omissions, there 
are many variations in detail which cannot be brought 
out by so condensed a comparison, but which are 
pointed out in the Notes. Moreover, important inser- 
tions of characters in the play make the two produc- 
tions entirely different in tone. The dramatist has 
introduced on his own account Jaques, Touchstone, 
and Audrey. These are not mentioned at all by 
Lodge, even under different names, but are largely 
responsible for the lightsome, merry tone of the play. 
Indeed, it is a question whether any two persons in 
As You Like It have more to do with giving it the 
distinctive character of which one never tires than 
Touchstone and Jaques. 

In quality the two works can scarcely be compared. 
The songs of Shakespeare are incomparably superior 
to those of Lodge ; Lodge's dialogue is tiresome com- 
pared with Shakespeare's; Lodge's endless repetitions 
of mythological references to Ixion embracing Juno in 
a cloud and stories of this sort become intolerable. 
Nevertheless, it will repay any student of As You 
Like It to spend an evening over the hundred and 
fifty pages of Lodge's Bosalynde. 



xlvi INTRODUCTION 



VERSE STRUCTURE 

Shakespeare's plays are written for the most part in 
blank verse, that is, in iambic pentameter, imrhymed. 
There are, however, many shorter lines, of two, three, 
or four feet ; sometimes parts of the plays are in rhyme ; 
and parts are merely prose. Knowledge of the mean- 
ings of the terms iambic, pentameter, imrhymed, and 
rhymed may perhaps be assumed to be possessed by 
the high school student who is ready for the study of 
As You Like It, since such a student has probably 
studied in class at least one play of Shakespeare. As 
You Like It is rarely inserted in a course as the first 
of the dramatist's plays to be studied. Yet, by way of 
clinching one's ideas on the subject, one will not be 
harmed by reading an explanation in simple language 
of what is meant by these different terms. 

Iambic, as used above, means a kind of verse in which 
the accent falls on the second of each pair of syllables 
which make up the verse. For instance, the word 
applied, which no one would think of pronouncing 
applied, is a plain example of two syllables of which 
the second is accented. If you put any two syllables 
side by side in this way in a line of poetry, you have 
what is called an iambic foot. Add now two more 



VERSE STRUCTURE xlvii 

syllables, of which one is not accented and the other 
is accented, and you have two iambic feet. Now let a 
cross (x) stand for the unaccented syllable and an 
accent (/) stand for the accented syllable. A line of 
this kind, called iambic dimeter, may be represented 
thus:- X / I X / 

Instead of the cross ( x ), some writers of text-books use 
the breve (y) to represent unaccented syllables; they 
use the macron (_) to represent accented syllables. It 
is easy to construct iambic dimeter lines, as "Defend 
yourself," taken from one of Oliver Herford's jingles, 
or " Begone, I say," from III, 4 of As You Like It. 
Turn to the song in the second scene of Act IV for 
another example. A line in which there are six 
syllables arranged with alternation of unaccented 
and accented syllables is called iambic trimeter, e.g., 
" Sweet lovers love the spring " ; and one of eight 
syllables, iambic tetrameter, e.g., " And then I'll study 
how to die." Now we come to the most frequent 
kind of line in the plays, iambic pentameter, as 

" 'Tis n6t your inky brows, your black silk hair." 

The above is a perfect pentameter line. Not all 
of Shakespeare's iambic pentameters are perfect ; 
there are a few little quirks in the verse structure. 
Occasionally there is an extra unaccented syllable at 



x 1 viii 1NTR0D UCTION 

the end of the line, so that the last foot looks like this : 
x / x and is called amphibrach. Sometimes, too, 
instead of an iambic foot there may be a foot consist- 
ing of two unaccented syllables followed by an 
accented, viz., an anapestic foot; or there maybe, par- 
ticularly at the beginning of the line, a foot consisting 
of an accented and an unaccented syllable, viz., a 
trochaic foot. With these exceptions, the pentameters 
are fairly regular. 

Unrhymed. Turn to III, 5, 47 in As You Like It : 
" Your bugle eye-balls nor your cheek of cream." 

You observe that this line immediately follows the line 
quoted above regarding the inky eyebrows. Line 46 
ends with the word " hair," and line 47, with the word 
" cream." The two words do not sound at all alike. 
They end in different consonants, and their vowel 
sounds are different ; the lines, that is, do not rhyme. 
Most of Shakespeare's iambic pentameters are like 
these in that they do not rhyme. 

Rhymed. On the other hand, scattered through 
As You Like It are various songs in which the words 
at the ends of two successive lines do sound alike : 

" You and you no cross shall part, 
You and you are heart in heart." 



VERSE STRUCTURE xlix 

Except for the initial letter, the word "part" has the 
same sound as the word " heart." These two words 
rhyme, and the poetry here is called rhymed. 

Just as frequent in the songs as the lines in which 
the last syllable of a line sounds like the last syllable 
of the next line are verses like the following: — 

" Why should this a desert be ? 
For it is unpeopled ? No ; 
Tongues I 1 11 hang on every tree, 
That shall civil saying show." 

In the above, notice that the word " be," which ends 
the first line, rhymes with " tree," which ends the 
third line ; and that " No " rhymes with " show." 

Thus far, what has been said in an elementary way 
on the verse structure would apply to almost any of 
Shakespeare's plays. There are a few peculiarities in 
As You Like It that deserve especial attention. First 
of all, it may be remarked that while in a play like 
Julius Ccesar the parts in prose are less than seven per 
cent, of the whole, in As You Like It the proportion is 
fifty-eight per cent. Why this difference is found need 
not be discussed here ; the student himself should 
ponder the matter. Again, there are in the play cer- 
tain lines which offer individual peculiarities of scan- 
sion, as for instance the following : — 



1 INTROD UCTION 

II, 1, 18. Duke Senior ends his famous speech 
in praise of the sylvan life by the words, " I would 
not change it." These words begin a new line of 
the play, but evidently cannot be twisted into a pen- 
tameter. The truth is that the completed pentameter 
verse continues with the words by which Lord Amiens 
begins his reply to the Duke, "Happy is your Grace." 
The perfect pentameter line is, then : — 

" I would not change it. Happy is your Grace," 

which consists of parts of two speeches. This pecu- 
liarity, common in the plays of Shakespeare, must be 
kept in mind when one is counting the lines of a 
scene. Another line of this sort is line 25 of the same 
scene : — 

" Have their round haunches gored. Indeed, my lord." 
II, 1, 31. 

" Under an oak whose antique root peeps out." 

In order to scan this line smoothly it is necessary to 
accent " antique " on the first syllable. Other cases 
where words must be pronounced with an accent dif- 
ferent from the normal pronunciation of our day will 
be met elsewhere in the play. 

II, 4, 36. 

"Thou hast not loved." 

Note that this short line is repeated in 39 and 42. 



VERSE STRUCTURE li 

II, 4, 67 and 68. 

"Peace, fool: he's not thy kinsman. Who calls ? 
Your betters, sir. Else are they very wretched." 

It is sometimes puzzling to know whether, when a line 
seems to be made up of parts of two speeches, it would 
not be better to call the words plain prose. Line 67 
is difficult of pentameter scansion, but 68 is quite 
easy. 

II, 4, 99 and 100. 

" I will your very faithful feeder be 
And buy it with your gold right suddenly." 

Notice the rhyme. This is a couplet. 

II, 7, 152. 

" Seeking the bubble reputation." 

At first glance this would seem to be either prose, or 
else too short for a pentameter. The dramatist would 
evidently have the last word pronounced as of five 
syllables : rep-u-ta-ti-on. 

III, 2, 133-162. It is possible to read all these lines 
as iambics, with an unaccented syllable missing at 
the beginning of most of the lines. 

Ill, 4, 59. 

" If you will mark it. O, come, let us remove." 

Here the exclamation " " is slipped into the line 
without effect on the scansion. 



Hi INTRODUCTION 

III, 5, 27. 

"That can do hurt. dear Phebe." 

One of the editors prints " deere " instead of " dear," 
and suggests that the word is pronounced as a dissyl- 
lable, and that there should be a derisive laugh at the 
end of " Phebe." 
Ill, 5, 77. 

" Come, sister. Shepherdess, look on him better." 

Here is a line where, in reading according to natural 
prose emphasis, five accents appear. Can the line be 
" scanned " ? 
V, 4, 184. 

11 Play, music ! And you, brides and bridegrooms all." 

Try to read this line with five accents. 

By reference to any of the rhetorics which have 
chapters on versification the student will find no dif- 
ficulty in working out the scansion of other lines which 
may seem puzzling at first view. Chapter VI of Hart's 
Composition and Rhetoric (Revised Edition) will be 
found particularly good. Chapter IX of Watrous's 
Composition and Rhetoric and Appendix F of Scott 
and Denney's Composition- Rhetoric will also be found 
helpful. 



SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITION liii 



SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITION 

1. Develop the following topic sentences : — 

a. The words " shrunk shank," in II, 7, 161, are 
[or are not] a blemish in Jaques's otherwise admira- 
ble comparison of the world to a stage. 

b. Duke Senior had no truly excellent character- 
istics ; he was, in fact, conceited and pompous. 

c. It is hard to see how any one can help admiring 
the simple, unaffected character of Rosalind's father. 

d. Shakespeare uses many words in senses peculiar 
or unknown at the present time. 

e. For real helpfulness to me I think it is better 
that I should look up puzzling words in the diction- 
aries than that I should merely try to commit to 
memory the explanations found in some annotated 
editions. 

/ Even if I have to spend as long a time in the 
work as in mastering difficult problems in mathe- 
matics, it is worth while for me to study out by com- 
parison of various dictionaries the exact meaning of 
hard passages in As You Like It. 

g. Study of the structure of As You Like It helps 
the pupil to appreciate better the qualities, good or 
bad, of any comedy. 

h. Compared with As You Like It, most modern 



Hv INTRODUCTION 

comedies now being played are decidedly inferior in 
certain important respects. 

2. Formulate into a series of short propositions, 
modelled somewhat after those of Corin, III, 2, 24-32, 
the philosophy of Touchstone, of Duke Senior, of 
Jaques; of Cassius {Julius Caisar), of Shylock (TJie 
Merchant of Venice), of Malcolm (Macbeth) ; of Dolly 
Winthrop (Silas Marnier), of Hawkeye (The Last of 
the Mohicans), of ColoneJ. Lambert (The Virginians), 
of the Clerk of Copmanhurst (Ivanhoe), and of the 
Spectator (Sir Roger de Coverley. Papers). 

3. Present as fully and clearly as you can an 
idea of what kind of person Orlando was, by each of 
the following methods: — 

a. Imagine a couple of Oliver's servants talking 
about Orlando and reproduce what you think they 
might have said. 

b. Relate in dialogue form what two court beauties 
other than Rosalind and Celia might have said to each 
other concerning the strong young wrestler who over- 
came and disabled the veteran Charles. Perhaps let 
these imaginary young women talk over the match 
just after its occurrence. 

c. Reproduce an imaginary conversation in which 
three of the court gallants comment on Orlando's skill 
or good luck. 

d. Write a monologue in which Orlando shall utter 



SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITION lv 

the thoughts that might have come to him when he 
was in the forest hunting for food for Adam. 

e. Relate briskly and in condensed form what 
Orlando actually does in the play. 

/. Write a longer composition combining the three 
methods of presenting Orlando's character by what 
people say about him, by what he says himself, and 
by what he does. 

4. Describe fully the Forest of Arden, bringing in 
all details that you find in the play. 

5. Discuss the use of puns in, the play. 

6. It is said that running through the whole play 
there is a vein of sadness. Point out the parts of the 
play that show this sadness. 

7. The romance of Corin and Audrey is thought by 
some persons to be a parody of that of Rosalind and 
Orlando. Show how far this is true. 

8. Explain to what extent the pastoral life repre- 
sented in As You Like It is artificial \_or natural]. 

9. Compare the kind of clothes men wore in the 
early part of the sixteenth century with the kind they 
wear in the twentieth. 

10. Comment on the language and grammar of the 
play, including discussions of Shakespeare's use of 
infinitives and words in peculiar senses. 

11. Translate II, 1, 5-17 into literal prose, and then 
compare closely with the original. Try after this to 



lvi INTRODUCTION 

insert a little figurative language into your paraphrase, 
and decide whether you can improve your writing in 
this way. 

12. Prove that the Forest of Arden of As You Like 
It was in England [or was not in England]. 

13. Show the relation between the development of 
the action of Act II and the shifting of the scene 
from the forest to the palace, to the garden, and back 
to the forest. Ingenuity and skill of a high order are 
to be discovered here by a careful study of the dram- 
atist's method. 

14. Translate II, 3, 38-53 and II, 3, 56-68 into 
your own words, making it plain by your rewriting 
that you understand the figures of speech in the two 
passages. 

15. Narrate fully what each character does in the 
play. 

16. Describe the circumstances under which the fol- 
lowing was uttered and explain its meaning : — 

" And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 

17. Rosalind has been called " one of the most en- 
chanting women in literature." Show by comparison 
with other women in English literature that this is a 
true characterization. 



SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITION lvii 

18. Write an imaginary dialogue between Ganimede 
and Orlando of about two hundred words in iambic 
pentameter verse. 

19. Mr. Rolfe, as the result of a painstaking 
count of the number of lines spoken by each char- 
acter in the play, finds that Rosalind spoke 749 
lines, which is a greater number than those spoken 
by any other woman in Shakespeare ; that Orlando 
spoke 322 ; Touchstone, 316 ; Celia, 304 ; and Jaques, 
235. Show the bearing of these statistics on the 
relative importance of the above characters in the 
drama. 

20. Expand into short paragraphs, of about seventy- 
five words each, the following comments by different 
authors on various points of the play : (a) " The deli- 
cate vein of satire in As You Like It is what keeps it 
from lapsing into sham. " (6) "As You Like It is less 
magnificent than the Merchant of Venice, yet it keeps 
up and leaves a more uniformly pleasurable impres- 
sion." (c) " There is hardly a play of Shakespeare 
that contains a greater number of phrases that have 
become in a manner proverbial." (d) "The interest 
of As You Like It arises more out of the sentiments 
and character than out of the actions or situations. 
It is not what is done, but what is said, that claims 
our attention." (e) " The moral is not how to bear mis- 
fortune with a cheery mind, but how to read the lessons 



lviii INTRODUCTION 

in the vicissitudes of physical nature." (/) " Orlando 
is the despairing toy of chance, followed, comforted, 
saved by Rosalind." 



QUESTIONS OK THE PLAY 

Questions on the plot and on the methods of dra- 
matic construction in the play are assembled in one 
place, instead of being scattered through the notes. 
It is not to be conceived, however, that the editor 
would advise the pupil to turn himself loose upon all 
these questions at once. It is much wiser to study 
them a scene or two at a time, so that the danger of 
mental indigestion may be avoided. By this mode 
the pupil will grasp the significant points of the play 
and cannot fail to comprehend better the methods and 
problems of the dramatist. In appreciating these, one 
will gain something that will be of value in one's in- 
dependent reading of plays of Shakespeare not usually 
studied in school. 

I, 1. What happens in this scene ? What persons 
do what things or say what ? What is the character 
of the principal actors ? Do you admire either of 
these ? Why ? What might you expect Orlando to 
do if given the one thousand crowns ? Why does Oli- 
ver ask Charles if he can tell whether or not Rosalind 



QUESTIONS -ON THE PLAY lix 

is banished with her father? Why is Adam intro- 
duced in this scene ? 

I, 2. Why is the scene abruptly shifted from an 
"orchard of Oliver's house" to a "lawn before the 
Duke's palace " ? Does the dramatist give us all that 
you imagine Rosalind and Celia said ? What persons 
take part in the action of this scene ? What, in brief, 
does each one do or say ? What words in the scene 
are used in senses that seem unusual ? Why is not 
the wrestling match between Charles and the three 
brothers performed on the stage ? Why, on the other 
hand, is the match between Charles and Orlando actu- 
ally represented in the scene, instead of being told by 
some one to the young ladies ? 

I, 3. Why does this scene begin thus abruptly ? 
Why is Rosalind sad ? At the close of Act I, how do 
you conjecture that the action will be developed? 
What further might you expect Rosalind to do ? 
Celia? Orlando? Oliver? Duke F.? Touchstone? 
What part do you imagine Charles and Le Beau will 
play in the later development of the action ? Who 
proposes the plan to fly to the forest ? Is this signifi- 
cant of her character ? 

II, 1. What figures of speech are found in this 
scene ? Why are they used instead of plain, literal 
statements ? Does the conversation seem natural ? 
Do you think any duke ever talked to his followers as 



lx INTRODUCTION 

Duke S. talks to Amiens ? Are the characters real 
live persons or merely like marionettes moved about 
at the whim of the author ? Do you find any indica- 
tion regarding the time of day or the period in the 
world's history at which this scene is supposed to 
take place ? Where is the Forest of Arden ? How 
does Jaques come to be in the forest ? With what 
single adjective would you characterize Jaques, — sad, 
cheerful, sober, serious, witty, or what ? Do any of 
the verbs and adjectives seem to lend particular vivid- 
ness or liveliness to the scene ? Is any part of the 
scene pathetic ? 

II, 2. What contrast is there between the spirit or 
tone of scenes 1 and 2 ? Does there appear to be any 
artistic reason for this contrast ? Does it seem natu- 
ral that the daughter of Duke Frederick should love 
the daughter of Duke Senior ? When is the flight of 
the girls reported to Duke Frederick ? 

II, 3. About how old was Adam in the play ? 
What is the figure in " But, poor old man, thou prunest 
a rotten tree " ? 

II, 4. Would it be difficult for a boy to play the 
part of Rosalind in this scene ? What feminine traits 
does the disguised Rosalind show in this scene ? Why 
does Rosalind love Celia? Why are Rosalind and 
Celia in the Forest of Arden ? Do they appear to be 
making haste to accomplish their purpose ? Can you 



QUESTIONS ON THE PLAY lxi 

picture to yourself Corin and Silvius entering in 
solemn talk? Where are Rosalind and Celia while 
Silvius and Corin are talking ? What is Touchstone 
doing at this time ? 

II, 5. Why does this scene begin with a song ? 
How does the talk between Amiens and Jaques ad- 
vance the action of the play ? 

II, 6. What later actions might you expect Orlando 
to perform after he has promised that he will get 
something to eat for Adam, if there is any live thing 
in the " desert " ? 

II, 7. Where is the greater part of Act II set ? 
Why here ? Can you conjecture what may have been 
going on at court meanwhile ? What is the figure of 
speech in " Blow, blow, thou winter wind " ? 

III, 1. Why does Duke F. wish Oliver to find 
Orlando ? 

Ill, 2. Would a real live shepherd talk as Corin 
talks in this scene ? Do you find Touchstone a par- 
ticularly amusing person? Do you think Rosalind is 
merely feigning that she cannot guess who was the 
author of the verses ? What characteristic does Celia 
show in this scene ? Is Rosalind fair to her sex in 
saying, " Do you not know I am a woman ? When I 
think, I must speak " ? Who in this scene is most 
successful at retort ? What is the most cutting re- 
mark made in the scene ? What figure of speech do 



lxii INTRODUCTION 

you observe in " the lazy foot of time " ? When were 
clocks first used ? When Rosalind makes her state- 
ments on page 66, why does not Orlando ask her to 
explain them in regular succession ? Is it plausible 
for Orlando not to recognize Rosalind ? Do madmen 
now " deserve well a dark house and a whip " ? What 
has Celia been doing in the course of this scene as told 
by Shakespeare, and filled out by yourself ? 

Ill, 3. What is the use in introducing Audrey into 
the comedy ? Do you see any significance in the name 
Sir Oliver Martext ? Was Touchstone a person of 
good breeding and manners ? 

Ill, 4. What puns have you noticed in the play 
thus far ? When did Orlando swear that he " would 
come this morning " ? 

III, 5. How does this scene advance the action of 
the play ? What is the use of the scene ? What 
might Rosalind say to Celia in talking over with her 
the love-making of Silvius ? What did Rosalind look 
like, dressed as a man ? (Try to make a pen or pencil 
sketch of her; do not be abashed if your success is not 
remarkable.) 

IV, 1. Express in a single short paragraph what has 
happened in the play up to Act IV. Why does Rosa- 
lind go through with the mock marriage ? Who shows 
off the better in this scene, Rosalind or Celia ? 

IV, 2. How does this scene advance the action of 



QUESTIONS ON THE PLAY lxiii 

the play? Why not omit it? What is gained by 
it? 

IV, 3. What was Phebe's personal appearance? 
What rise is made of description in this scene ? What 
was Celia's complexion ? Is it true that the disposi- 
tion of a lion is not to prey on anything that seems 
dead ? In line 128, who saw Orlando twice turn his 
back ? How do you know that he actually did this ? 
Why does not Celia rather than Rosalind ask about 
the napkin stained with blood ? Is Rosalind's swoon 
counterfeit ? Does Oliver in line 174 know that Rosa- 
lind is merely masquerading ? Is it natural that Oliver 
should be so suddenly transformed in character ? 

V, 1. Has there been a hero in the play up to Act 
V ? a heroine ? What do you mean by the words 
" hero " and " heroine " ? Through the fourth act do 
you consider the play a comedy ? Point out elements 
of comedy in this drama. 

V, 2. Is it reasonable to suppose that Orlando would 
continue through this scene unaware that Ganymede 
is Rosalind ? What effect does the dramatist gain by 
the repetition in lines 90-112 ? 

V, 3. What is this scene for in the play ? 

V, 4. How much time elapses in the play ? (Make 
an analysis scene by scene.) Is Rosalind actually 
married to Orlando in the play ? What is the function 
of Rosalind's speech in lines 19-23 ? Does the speech 



lxiv INTRODUCTION 

add any new material? What is the purpose of 
Touchstone's speech in lines 94-108? Does it seem 
natural that Duke S. should merely recognize certain 
" lively touches of his daughter's favor " in Gany- 
mede ? Is it plausible that Phebe should recognize in 
Bosalind, dressed in feminine apparel, the same Gany- 
mede with whom she had fallen in love ? (See lines 
126-127.) Who are the eight that must take hands 
to join in Hymen's bands ? Is the conversion of Duke 
F. natural ? Where has Jaques de Boys been all this 
time? Should the dramatist be criticised adversely 
for calling him Jaques de Boys ? 

Epilogue. Why is the epilogue added ? Does it 
continue the action of the play ? Is it entertaining ? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The books which will be found most serviceable in 
such study of A. Y. L. as is recommended in 
the Prefatory Note are : first, those dealing with the 
life and personality of Shakespeare, — the drama will 
be better understood if studied in connection with the 
character of the dramatist and the incidents of his 
life ; secondly, editions of this particular play ; and 
lastly, books of general service in Shakespearian 
study. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY lxv 

1. Life and Personality. Probably Mr. Sidney Lee's 
A Life of William Shakespeare (The Macmillan Com- 
pany) and Mr. Hamilton Wright Mabie's William 
Shakesjieare : Poet, Dramatist, and Man will be found 
most valuable. Mr. Lee's bibliography, pages 299-325, 
is full and luminous. His statement of facts regard- 
ing the life may usually be accepted without reserva- 
tion. Mr. Mabie's book is noteworthy for the graces 
of style and the penetrating criticism always looked 
for in a work by this pleasing essayist. Both books 
should be in the library of the school and in the 
teacher's private collection. Among other works in 
connection with the life and character of Shakespeare 
may be mentioned the following good books : E. Dow- 
den's Shakspere, in the Literature Primers of D. 
Appletoir & Co., 1885; G. Brandes's William Shake- 
speare: A Critical Study; F. G. Fleay's The Life and 
Work of Shakespeare ; and R. G. White's Memoirs of 
the IJfe of William Shakespeare, "with an essay toward 
the expression of his genius and an account of the rise 
and progress of the English drama." If these works 
are in the school library or in a local free library, it 
would be well for the teacher to assign them to differ- 
ent pupils for home reading and subsequent reports 
to the class. 

2. Editions of A. Y. L. First, of course, among 
single editions is the volume of As You Like It in 



lxvi INTRODUCTION 

Furness's monumental variorum edition of Shake- 
speare. Then comes Rolfe's excellent edition, with 
its complete and accurate index. Gollancz's glossary 
in the Temple Shakespeare will also be found useful. 
3. General Reference Books. A pamphlet by J. 0. 
Halliwell-Phillipps, privately printed, a copy of which 
may be consulted in the Astor Library, New York 
City, is of unusual interest in connection with the 
question of how to spell Shakespeare's name. The 
pamphlet is entitled, New Lamps or Old ? The author 
shows conclusively that the name should be written 
Shakespeare. Granting that in the time of the 
dramatist this was not always the spelling, Mr. Hal- 
liwell-Phillipps says : " There was then no settled 
orthography of surnames and a signature of those 
days is not conclusive evidence of the mode in which 
a person's name should be spelt." By way of illustra- 
tion, he continues : " Burbage sometimes wrote Bur- 
badg, while his brother signed himself Burbadge. One 
of the poet's sons-in-law wrote himself Quyney, Quy- 
neye, and Conoy, while his brother, the curate, signed 
Quiney. Similar variations occur in Christian names 
of the time, that of the poet's friend Julius Shaw 
positively appearing as Julyus, Julius, Julie, Julyne, 
Jule, Julines, Julynes, July, Julye, Julyius, and 
Julyles." Three of Shakespeare's undisputed signa- 
tures were in the form Shakspere, to be sure, but two 



BIBLIOGRAPHY lxvii 

printed letters have Shakespeare. Though the poet 
usually wrote Shakspere, his brother signed Shake- 
spere. The name is spelled Shakespeare in the only 
two works printed under the poet's own superinten- 
dence. In the earliest notice of the dramatist by 
name in printed literature the surname appears with 
a hyphen, Shake-speare. To indicate the pronuncia- 
tion, the longer form was always preferred. Ben 
Jonson wrote that Shakespeare seemed to shake a 
lance in every line and brandish it in the eyes of 
ignorance. "The only method of reconciling these 
inconsistencies is to adopt the name as it is bequeathed 
to us by his contemporaries." It is safe to say that 
the form Shakespeare is preferred now by the great 
majority of scholars. 

Among general reference books that are useful in 
the study of A. Y. L. the large dictionaries should 
have a prominent place. Murray's New English Dic- 
tionary, so far as it has been completed, will be found 
best. For the study of puzzling questions of gram- 
mar, Edwin A. Abbott's A Shakesjieai-ian Grammar 
(Macmillan & Co., 1876) may be recommended. Stu- 
dents familiar with German will do well to consult 
frequently Franz's Shakespeare-Grammatik, in two vol- 
umes, Halle, 1898, 1900. In the study of A. T. L. 
as a play, Freytag's Teknik des Dramas (translated by 
MacEwan) and W. H. Fleming's Shakespeare's Plots 



lxviii INTRODUCTION 

should not be neglected. Other good reference books 
are Doran's History of Court Fools and Donee's Dis- 
sertation on the Clowns and Fools of Shakespeare; 
Knight's History of England and his pictorial edition 
of Shakespeare; Henry Giles's Human Life in Shake- 
speare; and Shakespeare's Library, edited by W. C. 
Hazlitt, the second volume of which contains a reprint 
of Lodge's Rosalynde. Park Goodwin's A New Study 
of the Sonnets of Shakespeare (June, 1900) offers an 
interesting division of the sonnets, — one half of them 
relate, as he thinks, to the passional experiences* of 
the poet under the influence of a true and a false 
affection; one half relate to his poetic development, 
his aspirations, aims, struggles, disappointments, and 
final successes. 



AS YOU LIKE IT 



DRAMATIS PERSONS 



' > lords attending on the banished Duke. 

ES, ' 
DO. J 



Duke, living in banishment. 

Frederick, his brother, and usurper of his dominions. 

Amiens, 

Jaques, 

Le Beau, a courtier attending upon Frederick. 

Charles, wrestler to Frederick. 

Oliver, 

Jaques, \ sons of Sir Bowland de Boys. 

Orlando, 

' \ servants to Oliver. 
Dennis, J 

Touchstone, a clown. 

Sir Oliver Martext, a vicar. 

~ ' i shepherds. 

William, a country fellow, in love with Audrey. 
A person representing Hymen. 

Rosalind, daughter to the banished Duke. 
Celia, daughter to Frederick. 
Phebe, a shepherdess. 
Audrey, a country wench. 

Lords, pages, and attendants, &c. 



I 



Scene : Oliver's house ; Duke Frederick's court ; and the 
Forest of Arden. 



AS YOU LIKE IT 

ACT I 

Scene I. Orchard ° of Oliver's house 

Enter Orlando and Adam 

Orl. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this 
fashion : bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand 
crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother, on 
his blessing, to breed me well : and there begins my 
sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and 
report speaks goldenly of his profit : for my part, he 
keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more prop- 
erly, stays me here at home unkept ; for call you that 
keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not 
from the stalling of an ox ? His horses are bred 10 
better ; for, besides that they are fair with their feed- 
ing, they are taught their manage, and to that end 
riders dearly hired : but I, his brother, gain nothing 
under him but growth ; for the which his animals on 
b 1 



2 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. i. 

his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides 
this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the some- 
thing that nature gave me his countenance seems to 
take from me : he lets me feed with his hinds, bars 20 
me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, 
mines my gentility with my education. This is it, 
Adam, that grieves me ; and the spirit of my father, 
which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against 
this servitude : I will no longer endure it, though yet 
I know no wise remedy how to avoid it. 

Adam. Yonder comes my master, your brother. 

Orl. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he 
will shake me up. 30 

Enter Oliver 

Oli. Now, sir ! what make you here ? 

Orl. Nothing : I am not taught to make anything. 

Oli. What mar you then, sir ? 

Orl. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which 
God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with 
idleness. 

' Oli. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught 
awhile. 

Orl. Shall I keep your hogs and eat husks with 40 
them ? What prodigal portion have I spent, that I 
should come to such penury ? 



Act I. Sc. L] AS YOU LIKE IT 3 

OU. Know you where you are, sir ? 

Orl. 0, sir, very well ; here in your orchard. 

OU. Know you before whom, sir ? 

Orl. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. 
I know you are my eldest brother ; and, in the gentle 
condition of blood, you should so know me. The cour- 
tesy of nations allows you my better, in that you are 
the first-born; but the same tradition takes not 50 
away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us : 
I have as much of my father in me as you ; albeit, I 
confess, your coming before me is nearer to his 
reverence. 

OU, What, boy ! 

Orl. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young 
in this. 

OU. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain ? 

Orl. I am no villain ; I am the youngest son of Sir 
Rowland de Boys ; he was my father, and he is 60 
thrice a villain that says such a father begot villains. 
Wert thou not my brother, I would not take this hand 
from thy throat till this other had pulled out thy 
tongue for saying so : ° thou hast railed on thy- 
self. 

Adam. Sweet masters, be patient : for your father's 
remembrance, be at accord. 



4 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. i. 

Oli. Let me go, I say. 

Orl. I will not, till I please : you shall hear me. 
My father charged you in his will to give me good 70 
education: you have trained me like a peasant, ob- 
scuring and hiding from me all gentlemanlike qualities. 
The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will 
no longer endure it : therefore allow me such exercises 
as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor al- 
lottery my father left me by testament ; with that I 
will go buy my fortunes. 

OIL And what wilt thou do? beg, when that is 
spent? Well, sir, get you in: I will not long be 
troubled with you ; you shall have some part of 80 
your will : I pray you, leave me. 

Orl. I will no further offend you than becomes me 
for my good. 

Oli. Get you with him, you old dog. 

Adam. Is "old dog" my reward? Most true, I 
have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my 
old master ! he would not have spoke such a word. 

\_Exeimt Orlando and Adam. 

Oli. Is it even so ? begin you to grow upon me ? 90 
I will physic your rankness, and yet give no thousand 
crowns neither. Holla, Dennis ! 



Act I. Sc. L] AS YOU LIKE IT 5 

Enter Dennis 

Den. Calls your worship ? 

OIL Was not Charles, the Duke's wrestler, here to 
speak with me ? 

Den. So please you, he is here at the door and im- 
portunes access to you. 

OIL Call him in. [Exit Dennis.] 'Twill be a 
good way ; and to-morrow the wrestling is. 

Enter Charles 

Cha. Good morrow to your worship. ioo 

OIL Good Monsieur Charles, what's the new news 
at the new court ? ° 

Cha. There's no news at the court, sir, but the old 
news : that is, the old Duke is banished by his younger 
brother the new Duke; and three or four loving lords 
have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, 
whose lands and revenues enrich the new Duke; 
therefore he gives them good leave to wander. 

OIL Can you tell if Kosalind, the Duke's no 
daughter, be banished with her father ? 

Cha. Oh, no ; for the Duke's daughter, her cousin, 
so loves her, being ever from their cradles bred to- 
gether, that she would have followed her exile, or 



AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. i. 



have died to stay behind her. She is at the court, 
and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daugh- 
ter ; and never two ladies loved as they do. 

OIL Where will the old Duke live ? 

Cha. They say he is already in the forest of Ar- 120 
den,° and a many merry men° with him ; and there they 
live like the old Robin Hood° of England : they say 
many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet 
the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world. 

Oli. What, you wrestle to-morrow before the new 
Duke ? 

Cha. Marry, do I, sir ; and I came to acquaint you 
with a matter. I am given, sir, secretly to under- 
stand that your younger brother, Orlando, hath a 130 
disposition to come in disguised against me to try a 
fall. To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit ; and he 
that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit 
him well. Your brother is but young and tender; 
and for your love° I would be loath to foil him, as I 
must, for my own honor, if he come in : therefore, out 
of my love to you, I came hither to acquaint you 
withal ; that either you might stay him from his in- 
tendment, or brook such disgrace well as he shall 140 
run into ; in that it is a thing of his own search, and 
altogether against my will. 



Act I. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 7 

OIL Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which 
thou shalt find I will most kindly requite. I had 
myself notice of my brother's purpose herein, and 
have by underhand means labored to dissuade him 
from it, but he is resolute. I'll tell thee, Charles : — 
it is the stubbornest young fellow of France ; full of 
ambition, an envious emulator of every man's good 
parts, a secret and villanous contriver against me 150 
his natural brother : therefore use thy discretion ; I 
had as lief thou didst break his neck as his finger. 
And thou wert best look to't; for if thou dost him 
any slight disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace him- 
self on thee, he will practise against thee by poison, 
entrap thee by some treacherous device, and never 
leave thee till he hath ta'en thy life by some indirect 
means or other; for, I assure thee, and almost with 
tears I speak it, there is not one so young and so vil- 
lanous this day living. I speak but brotherly of 160 
him ; but should I anatomize him to thee as he is, I 
must blush and weep, and thou must look pale and 
wonder. 

Cha. I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If 
he come to-morrow, I'll give him his payment : if 
ever he go alone again, I'll never wrestle for prize 
more : and so, God keep your worship ! 



8 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

OIL Farewell, good Charles. [Exit Charles.] Now 
will I stir this gamester : I hope I shall see an 170 
end of him ; for my soul, yet I know not why, hates 
nothing more than he. Yet he's gentle; never 
schooled, and yet learned j full of noble device ; of 
all sorts enchantingly beloved ; and indeed so much in 
the heart of the world, and especially of my own 
people, who best know him, that I am altogether mis- 
prised : but it shall not be so long ; this wrestler shall 
clear all : nothing remains but that I kindle the boy 
thither ; which now I'll go about. [Exit. 180 



Scene II. Lawn before the Duke's palace 
Enter Rosalind and Celia 

Cel. I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz,° be merry. 

Ros. Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mis- 
tress of ; and would you yet I were merrier ? Unless 
you could teach me to forget a banished father, you 
must not learn me how to remember any extraordi- 
nary pleasure. 

Cel. Herein I see thou lovest me not with the full 
weight that I love thee. If my uncle, thy banished 
father, had banished thy uncle, the Duke my 10 



Act I. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 9 

father, so thou hadst been still with me, I could have 
taught my love to take thy father for mine : so wouldst 
thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously 
tempered as mine is to thee. 

Ros. Well, I will forget the condition of my estate, 
to rejoice in yours. 

Cel. You know my father hath no child but I, nor 
none is like to have : and, truly, w r hen he dies, thou 
shalt be his heir; for what he hath taken away 20 
from thy father perforce, I will render thee again in 
affection ;° by mine honor, I will ; and when I break 
that oath, let me turn monster : therefore, my sweet 
Eose, my dear Rose, be merry. 

Ros. From henceforth I will, coz, and devise 
sports. Let me see ; what think you of falling in 
love ?° 

Cel. Marry, I prithee, do, to make sport withal : but 
love no man in good earnest; nor no further in 30 
sport neither, than with safety of a pure blush thou 
mayst in honor come off again. 

Ros. What shall be our sport, then ? 

Cel. Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune 
from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be 
bestowed equally. 

Ros. I would we could do so ; for her benefits are 



10 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

mightily misplaced ; and the bountiful blind woman 
doth most mistake in her gifts to women. 

Cel. 'Tis true ; for those that she makes fair she 40 
scarce makes honest ; and those that she makes honest 
she makes very ill-favoredly.° 

Ros. Nay) now thou goest from Fortune's office to 
Nature's : Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in 
the lineaments of Nature. 

Enter Touchstone 

Cel. No ? when Nature hath made a fair creature, 
may she not by Fortune fall into the fire ?° Though 
Nature hath given us wit to flout at Fortune, hath not 
Fortune sent in this fool to cut off the argument. 50 

Ros. Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, 
when Fortune makes Nature's natural the cutter-off of 
Nature's wit. 

Cel. Peradventure this is not Fortune's work neither, 
but Nature's ; who perceiveth our natural wits too dull 
to reason of such goddesses, and hath sent this 
natural for our whetstone ; for always the dulness of 
the fool is the whetstone of the wits. How now, wit ! 
whither wander you ? 

Touch. Mistress, you must come away° to your 60 
father. 



Act I. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT H 

Cel. Were you made the messenger ? 

Touch. No, by mine honor, but I was bid to come 
for you. 

Bos. Where learned you that oath, fool ? 

Touch. Of a certain knight that swore by his honor 
they were good pancakes, and swore by his honor the 
mustard was naught ; now I'll stand to it, the pancakes 
were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was 
not the knight forsworn. 70 

Cel. How prove you that, in the great heap of your 
knowledge ? 

Bos. Ay, marry, now unmuzzle your wisdom. 

Touch. Stand you both forth now: stroke your 
chins, and swear by your beards that I am a 
knave. 

Cel By our beards, if we had them, thou art. 

Touch. By my knavery, if I had it, then I were ; 80 
but if you swear by that that is not, you are not 
forsworn : no more was this knight, swearing by his 
honor, for he never had any; or if he had, he had 
sworn it away before ever he saw those pancakes or 
that mustard. 

Cel. Prithee, who is't that thou meanest ? 

Touch. One that old Frederick, your father, loves. 

Cel. My father's love is enough to honor him : 



12 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

enough ! speak no more of him ; you'll be whipped 90 
for taxation one of these days. 

Touch. The more pity, that fools may not speak 
wisely when wise men do foolishly. 

Cel. By my troth, thou say est true ; for since the 
little wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery 
that wise men have makes a great show. Here comes 
Monsieur Le Beau. 

Bos. With his mouth full of news. 

Cel. Which he will put on us, as pigeons feed their 
young. 100 

Bos. Then shall we be news-crammed. 

Cel. All the better ; we shall be the more market- 
able. 

Enter Le Beau 

Bon jour, Monsieur Le Beau; what's the news? 

Le Beau. Fair princess, you have lost much good 
sport. 

Cel. Sport ! of what color ? 

Le Beau. What color, madam ! how shall I answer 
you? 

Bos. As wit and fortune will. no 

Touch. Or as the Destinies decrees. 

Cel. Well said :° that was laid on with a trowel. 

Touch. Nay, if I keep not my rank, — ° 



Act I. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 13 

Ros. Thou losest thy old smell. 

Le Beau. You amaze me, ladies : I would have told 
you of good wrestling, which you have lost the 
sight of. 

Ros. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling. 

Le Beau. I will tell you the beginning ; and, if it 
please your ladyships, you may see the end ; for 120 
the best is yet to do ; and here, where you are, they 
are coming to perform it. 

Cel. Well, the beginning, that is dead and buried. 

Le Beau. There comes an old man and his three 
sons, — 

Cel. I could match this beginning with an old tale. 

Le Beau. Three proper young men, of excellent 
growth and presence. 130 

Ros. With bills on their necks, " Be it known unto 
all men by these presents." 

Le Beau, The eldest of the three wrestled with 
Charles, the Duke's wrestler; which Charles in a 
moment threw him, and broke three of his ribs, that 
there is little hope of life in him : so he served the 
second, and so the third. Yonder they lie; the 
poor old man, their father, making such pitiful dole 
over them that all the beholders take his part with 
weeping. 140 



14 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

Ros. Alas! 

Touch. But what is the sport, monsieur, that the 
ladies have lost ? 

Le Beau. Why, this that I speak of. 

Touch. Thus men may grow wiser every day : it is 
the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was 
sport for ladies. 

Gel. Or I, I promise thee. 

Bos. But is there any else longs to see this broken 
music in his sides? is there yet another dotes 150 
upon rib-breaking? Shall we see this wrestling, 
cousin ? 

Le Beau. You must, if you stay here ; for here is 
the place appointed for the wrestling, and they are 
ready to perform it. 

Cel. Yonder, sure, they are coming: let us now 
stay and see it. 

Flourish. Enter Duke Frederick, Lords, Orlando, 
Charles, and Attendants 

Duke F. Come on : since the youth will not be 
entreated, his own peril on his forwardness. 

Ros. Is yonder the man ? 160 

Le Beau. Even he, madam. 

Cel. Alas, he is too young ! yet he looks successfully. 



Act I. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 15 

Duke F. How now, daughter and cousin ! are you 
crept hither to see the wrestling ? 

Bos. Ay, my liege, so please you give us leave. 

Duke F. You will take little delight in it, I can tell 
you, there is such odds in the man.° In pity of the 
challenger's youth I would fain dissuade hirn, 170 
but he will not be entreated. Speak to him, ladies ; 
see if you can move him. 

Cel. Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau. 

Duke F. Do so : I'll not be by. 

Le Beau. Monsieur the challenger, the princess 
calls for you. 

Orl. I attend them with all respect and duty. 

Bos. Young man, have you challenged Charles the 
wrestler ? 

Orl. No, fair princess ; he is the general chal- 1S0 
lenger :° I come but in, as others do, to try with him 
the strength of my youth. 

Cel. Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for 
your years. You have seen cruel proof of this man's 
strength : if you saw yourself with our eyes, or knew 
yourself with our judgment, the fear of your adven- 
ture would counsel you to a more equal enterprise. 
We pray you, for your own sake, to embrace your own 
safety, and give over this attempt. 190 



16 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

Eos. Do, young sir; your reputation shall not 
therefore be misprised : we will make it our suit to 
the Duke that the wrestling might not go forward. 

Orl. I beseech you, punish me not with your hard 
thoughts ; wherein I confess me much guilty, to deny 
so fair and excellent ladies anything. But let your 
fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my trial : 
wherein if I be foiled, there is but one shamed that 
was never gracious ; if killed, but one dead that 200 
is willing to be so : I shall do my friends no wrong, 
for I have none to lament me ; the world no injury, 
for in it I have nothing : only in the world I fill up a 
place, which may be better supplied when I have made 
it empty. 

Eos. The little strength that I have, I would it 
were with you. 

Cel. And mine, to eke out hers. 

Ros. Fare you well : pray heaven I be deceived in 
you ! 210 

Cel. Your heart's desires be with you ! 

Cha. Come, where is this young gallant that is so 
desirous to lie with his mother earth ? 

Orl. Ready, sir ; but his will hath in it a more 
modest working. 

Duke F. You shall try but one fall. 



Act I. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 17 

CJia. No, I warrant your Grace, you shall not entreat 
him to a second, that have so mightily persuaded him 
from a first. 

Orl. You mean to mock me after ; you should 220 
not have mocked me before : but come your ways. 

Bos. Now Hercules be thy speed, young man ! 

Cel. I would I were invisible, to catch the strong 
fellow by the leg. [.They wrestle. 

Bos. excellent young man !° 

Cel. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell 
who should down. [Shout. Charles is thrown. 

Duke F. No more, no more. 

Orl. Yes, I beseech your Grace : I am not yet well 
breathed. ■ 230 

Duke F. How dost thou, Charles ? 

Le Beau. He cannot speak, my lord. 

Duke F. Bear him away. What is thy name, young 
man ? 

Orl. Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of Sir 
Rowland de Boys. 

Duke F. I would thou hadst been son to some man 
else: 
The world esteemed thy father honorable, 
But I did find him still mine enemy : 
Thou shouldst have better pleased me with this deed, 




18 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

Hadst thou descended from another house. 241 

But fare thee well ;° thou art a gallant youth : 
I would thou hadst told me of another father. 

[Exeunt Duke Fred., train, and Le Beau. 

Cel. Were I my father, coz, would I do this ? 

Orl. I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son, 
His youngest son ; and would not change that calling, 
To be adopted heir to Frederick. 

Bos. My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul, 
And all the world was of my father's mind : 
Had I before known this young man his son, 
I should have given him tears unto entreaties, 250 

Ere he should thus have ventured. 

Cel. Gentle cousin 

Let us go thank him and encourage him : 
My father's rough and envious disposition 
Sticks me at heart. Sir, you have well deserved : 
If you do keep your promises in love 
But justly, as you have exceeded all promise, 
Your mistress shall be happy. 

Bos. Gentleman, 

[Giving him a chain from her neck. 
Wear this for me, one out of suits with fortune, 
That could give more, but that her hand lacks means. 
Shall we go, coz ? 



Act I. Sc. Si.] AS YOU LIKE IT 19 

Cel. Ay. Fare you well, fair gentleman. 260 

Orl Can I not say, I thank you ? My better parts 
Are all thrown down, and that which here stands up 
Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block. 

Bos. He calls us back : my pride fell with my for- 
tunes ; 
I'll ask him what he would. Did you call, sir ? 
Sir, you have wrestled well and overthrown 
More than your enemies. 

Cel. Will you go, coz ? 

Bos. Have with you. Fare you well. 

[Exeunt Rosalind and Celia. 

Orl. What passion hangs these weights upon my 
tongue ? 
I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference. 270 
poor Orlando, thou art overthrown ! 
Or Charles or something weaker masters thee. 

Re-enter Le Beau 

Le Beau. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you 
To leave this place. Albeit you have deserved 
High commendation, true applause, and love, 
Yet such is now the Duke's condition, 
That he misconstrues all that you have done. 
The Duke is humorous : what he is, indeed, 



20 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. ii. 

More suits you to conceive than 1° to speak of. 

Orl. I thank you, sir : and, pray you, tell me this ; 
Which of the two was daughter of the Duke, 281 

That here was at the wrestling ? 

Le Beau. Neither his daughter, if we judge by 
manners ; 
But yet, indeed, the taller is his daughter : 
The other is daughter to the banished Duke, 
And here detained by her usurping uncle, 
To keep his daughter company ; whose loves 
Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters. 
But I can tell you that of late this Duke 
Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece, 290 
Grounded upon no other argument 
But that the people praise her for her virtues, 
And pity her for her good father's sake ; 
And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady 
Will suddenly break forth. Sir, fare you well : 
Hereafter, in a better world than this, 
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you. 

Orl. I rest much bounden to you : fare you well. 

[Exit Le Beau. 
Thus must 1° from the smoke into the smother ; 
From tyrant Duke unto a tyrant brother : 300 

But heavenly Rosalind ! [Exit. 



Act I. Sc. iii.J AS YOU LIKE IT 21 

Scene III. A room in the palace 
Enter Celia and Rosalind 

Gel. Why, cousin ! why, Rosalind ! Cupid have 
mercy ! not a word ?° 

Bos. Not one to throw at a dog. 

Cel. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away 
upon curs ; throw some of them at me ; come, lame 
me with reasons. 

Eos. Then there were two cousins laid up; when 
the one should be lamed with reasons and the other 
mad without any. 

Cel. But is all this for your father ? 10 

Bos. No, some of it is for my father's child. 0, 
how full of briers is this working-day world ! 

Cel They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in 
holiday foolery : if we walk not in the trodden paths, 
our very petticoats will catch them. 

Bos. I could shake them off my coat: these burs 
are in my heart. 

Cel. Hem them away. 

Bos. I would try, if I could cry hem and have 
him. 20 

Cel. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections. 



22 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. iii. 

Ros. 0, they take the part of a better wrestler than 
myself ! 

Cel. 0, a good wish upon you ! you will try in time, 
in despite of a fall. But, turning these jests out of 
service, let us talk in good earnest ; is it possible, on 
such a sudden, you should fall into so strong a liking 
with old Sir Rowland's youngest son ? 

Ros. The Duke my father loved his father dearly. 3 o 

Cel. Doth it therefore ensue that you should love 
his son dearly ? By this kind of chase, I should hate 
him, for my father hated his father dearly ; yet I hate 
not Orlando. 

Ros. No, faith, hate him not, for my sake. 

Cel. Why should I not ? doth he not deserve well ?° 

Ros. Let me love him for that, and do you love him 
because I do. Look, here comes the Duke. 40 

Cel. With his eyes full of anger. 

Enter Duke Frederick, with Lords 

Duke F. Mistress, despatch you with your safest haste 
And get you from our court. 

Ros. Me, uncle ? 

Duke F. You, cousin: 

Within these ten days if that thou be'st found 
So near our public court as twenty miles, 
Thou diest for it. 



Act I. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 23 

Eos. I do beseech your Grace, 

Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me :° 
If with myself I hold intelligence, 
Or have acquaintance with mine own desires ; 50 

If that I do not dream, or be not frantic, — ° 
As I do trust I am not, — then, dear uncle, 
Never so much as in a thought unborn 
Did I offend your Highness. 

Duke F. Thus do all traitors : 

If their purgation did consist in words, 
They are as innocent as grace itself : 
Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not. 

Eos. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor : 
Tell me whereon the likelihood depends. 

Duke F. Thou art thy father's daughter; there's 
enough. 60 

Eos. So was I when your Highness took his duke- 
dom ; 
So was I when your Highness banished him : 
Treason is not inherited, my lord ; 
Or, if we did derive it from our friends, 
What's that to me ? my father was no traitor : 
Then, good my liege, mistake me not so much 
To think my poverty is treacherous. 

Gel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak. 



24 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. iii. 

Duke F. Ay, Celia; we stayed her for your sake, 
Else had she with her father ranged along. 70 

Gel. I did not then entreat to have her stay ; 
It was your pleasure and your own remorse : 
I was too young that time to value her. 
But now I know her : if she be a traitor, 
Why so am I ; we still have slept together, 
Eose at an instant, learned, played, eat together, 
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, 
Still we went coupled and inseparable. 

Duke F. She is too subtle for thee ; and her smooth- 
ness, 
Her very silence and her patience, 80 

Speak to the people, and they pity her. 
Thou art a fool : she robs thee of thy name ; 
And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtu- 
ous 
When she is gone. Then open not thy lips : 
Firm and irrevocable is my doom 
Which I have passed upon her ; she is banished. 

Gel. Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege : 
I cannot live out of her company. 

Duke F. You are a fool. You, niece, provide your- 
self: 
If you outstay the time, upon mine honor, 90 



Act I. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 25 

And in the greatness of my word, you die. 

[Exeunt Duke Frederick and Lords. 

Cel. my poor Kosalind, whither wilt thou go ? 
Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine. 
I charge thee, be not thou more grieved than I am. 

Mos. I have more cause. 

Cel. Thou hast not, cousin ; 

Prithee, be cheerful : know'st thou not, the Duke 
Hath banished me, his daughter ? 

Bos. That he hath not. 

Cel. No, hath not ? Eosalind lacks then the love 
Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one : 
Shall we be sundered? shall we part, sweet girl? ioo 
No : let my father seek another heir. 
Therefore devise with me how we may fly, 
Whither to go and what to bear with us ; 
And do not seek to take your change upon you, 
To bear your griefs yourself and leave me out ; 
For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,° 
Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee. 

Eos. Why whither shall we go ? 

Cel. To seek my uncle in the forest of Arden. 

Bos. Alas, what danger will it be to us, no 

Maids as we are, to travel forth so far ! 
Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. 



26 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act I. Sc. iii. 

Cel. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire 
And with a kind of umber smirch my face ; 
The like do you : so shall we pass along 
And never stir assailants. 

Ros. Were it not better, 

Because that I am more than common tall, 
That I did suit me all points like a man ? 
A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh, 
A boar-spear in my hand ; and — in my heart 120 

Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will — 
We'll have a swashing and a martial outside, 
As many other mannish cowards have 
That do outface it with their semblances. 

Cel. What shall I call thee when thou art a man ? 

Ros. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page; 
And therefore look you call me Ganymede. 
But what will you be called ? 

Cel. Something that hath a reference to my state : 
No longer Celia, but Aliena. 130 

Ros. But, cousin, what if we assayed to steal 
The clownish fool out of your father's court ? 
Would he not be a comfort to our travel ? 

Cel. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me ; 
Leave me alone to woo him. Let's away, 
And get our jewels and our wealth together ; 



Act II. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 27 

Devise the fittest time and safest way 

To hide us from pursuit that will be made 

After my flight. Now go we in content 

To liberty and not to banishment. {Exeunt. 140 



ACT II 

Scene I. The Forest of Arden 

Enter Duke senior, Amiens, and two or three Lords, 
like foresters 

Duke S. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, 
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court ? 
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, 
The seasons' difference ; as the icy fang° 
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind, 
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, 
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say 
' This is no flattery : these are counsellors 10 

That feelingly persuade me what I am.' 
Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 



28 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. i. 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head : 

And this our life exempt from public haunt 

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones and good in everything. 

I would not change it. 

Ami. Happy is your Grace, 

That can translate the stubbornness of fortune 
Into so quiet and so sweet a style. 20 

Duke S. Come, shall we go and kill us venison ? 
And yet it irks me° the poor dappled fools, 
Being native burghers of this desert city, 
Should in their own confines with forked heads 
Have their round haunches gored. 

First Lord. Indeed, my lord, 

The melancholy Jaques grieves at that, 
And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp 
Than doth your brother that hath banished you. 
To-day my Lord of Amiens and myself 
Did steal behind him as he lay along 30 

Under an oak whose antique root peeps out 
Upon the brook that brawls along this wood : 
To the which place a poor sequestered stag, 
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt, 
Did come to languish, and indeed, my lord, 
The wretched animal heaved forth such groans, 



Act II. Sc. L] AS YOU LIKE IT 29 

That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat 

Almost to bursting, and the big round tears 

Coursed one another down his innocent nose 

In piteous chase ; and thus the hairy fool, 40 

Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, 

Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook, 

Augmenting it with tears. 

Duke S. But what said Jaques ? 

Did he not moralize this spectacle ? 

First Lord. 0, yes, into a thousand similes. 
First, for his weeping into the needless stream ; 
' Poor deer,' quoth he, ' thou makest a testament 
As worldings do, giving thy sum of more 
To that which had too much : ' then, being there 

alone, 
Left and abandoned of his velvet friends ; 50 

' 'Tis right,' quoth he ; ' thus misery doth part 
The flux of company : ' anon a careless herd, 
Full of the pasture, jumps along by him 
And never stays to greet him ; ' Ay,' quoth Jaques, 
' Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens ; 
'Tis just the fashion : wherefore do you look 
Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there ? ' 
Thus most invectively he pierceth through 
The body of the country, city, court, 



30 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. ii. 

Yea, and of this our life ; sweariug that we 60 

Are mere usurpers, tyrants and what's worse, 
To fright the animals and to kill them up° 
In their assigned and native dwelling-place. 

Duke S. And did you leave him in this contem- 
plation? 

Sec. Lord. We did, my lord, weeping and com- 
menting 
Upon the sobbing deer. 

Duke S. Show me the place : 

I love to cope him in these sullen fits, 
For then he's full of matter. 

First Lord. I'll bring you to him straight. [Exeunt. 



Scene II. A room in the palace 
Enter Duke Frederick, with Lords 

Duke F. Can it be possible that no man saw them ?° 
It cannot be : some villains of my court 
Are of consent and sufferance in this. 

First Lord. I cannot hear of any that did see her. 
The ladies, her attendants of her chamber, 
Saw her a-bed, and in the morning early 
They found the bed untreasured of their mistress. 



Act II. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 31 

Sec, Lord. My lord, the roynish clown, at whom 
so oft 
Your Grace was wont to laugh, is also missing. 
Hesperia, the princess' gentlewoman, 10 

Confesses that she secretly o'erheard 
Your daughter and her cousin much commend 
The parts and graces of the wrestler 
That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles ; 
And she believes, wherever they are gone, 
That youth is surely in their company. 

Duke F. Send to his brother ; fetch that gallant 
hither ; 
If he be absent, bring his brother to me ; 
I'll make him find him : do this suddenly, 
And let not search and inquisition quail 20 

To bring again these foolish runaways. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. Before Oliver's house 
Enter Orlando and Adam, meeting 

Orl. Who's there ? 

Adam. What, my young master? my gentle 
master ! 
my sweet master ! you memory 
Of old Sir Eowland ! why, what make you here ? 



32 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. iii. 

Why are you virtuous ? why do people love you ?° 

And wherefore are you gentle, strong and valiant ? 

Why would you be so fond to overcome 

The bonny priser of the humorous Duke ? 

Your praise is come too swiftly home before you. 

Know you not, master, to some kind of men 10 

Their graces serve them but as enemies ? 

No more do yours :° your virtues, gentle master, 

Are sanctified and holy traitors to you. 

0, what a world is this, when what is comely 

Envenoms him that bears it ! 

Orl. Why, what's the matter ? 

Adam. unhappy youth ! 

Come not within these doors ; within this roof 
The enemy of all your graces lives : 
Your brother — no, no brother ; yet the son — 
Yet not the son, I will not call him son, 
Of him I was about to call his father, — 
Hath heard your praises, and this night he means 
To burn the lodging where you use to lie 
And you within it : if he fail of that, 
He will have other means to cut you off. 
I overheard him and his practices. 
This is no place ; this house is but a butchery : 
Abhor it, fear it, do not enter it. 



Act II. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 33 

Orl. Why, whither, Adam, wouldst thou have me 
go? 

Adam. No matter whither, so you come not here. 30 

Orl. What, wouldst you have me go and beg my 
food? 
Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce 
A thievish living on the common road ? 
This I must do, or know not what to do : 
Yet this I will not do, do how I can ; 
I rather will subject me to the malice 
Of a diverted blood and bloody brother. 

Adam. But do not so. I have five hundred crowns, 
The thrifty hire I saved under your father, 
Which I did store to be my foster-nurse 40 

When service should in my old limbs lie lame, 
And unregarded age in corners thrown : 
Take that, and He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
Be comfort to my age ! Here is the gold ; 
All this I give you. Let me be your servant: 
Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty; 
For in my youth I never did apply 
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood, 
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 50 

The means of weakness and debility ; 



34 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. iii. 

Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 
Frosty, but kindly : let me go with you : 
I'll do the service of a younger man 
In all your business and necessities. 

Orl. good old man, how well in thee appears 
The constant service of the antique world, 
When service sweat for duty, not for meed ! 
Thou art not for the fashion of these times, 
Where none will sweat but for promotion, 60 

And having that do choke their service up 
Even with the having : it is not so with thee. 
But, poor old man, thou prunest a rotten tree, 
That cannot so much as a blossom yield 
In lieu of ° all thy pains and husbandry. 
But come thy ways ; we'll go along together, 
And ere we have thy youthful wages spent, 
We'll light upon some settled low content. 

Adam. Master, go on, and I will follow thee, 
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty. 70 

From seventeen years till now almost fourscore 
Here lived I, but now live here no more. 
At seventeen years many their fortunes seek ; 
But at fourscore it is too late a week :° 
Yet fortune cannot recompense me better 
Than to die well and not my master's debtor. [Exeunt. 



Act II. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 35 

Scene IV. TJie Forest of Arden 

Enter Bosalind for Ganymede, Celia for Aliena, 
and Touchstone 

Bos. Jupiter, how weary are my spirits ! 

Touch. I care not for my spirits, if my legs were 
not weary. 

Bos. I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's 
apparel and to cry like a woman ; but I must comfort 
the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose ought to show 
itself courageous to petticoat : therefore, courage, good 
Aliena. 

Cel. I pray you, bear with me; I cannot go no 
further. 10 

Touch. For my part, I had rather bear with you 
than bear you ; yet I should bear no cross, if I did 
bear you ; for I think you have no money in your 
purse. 

Ros. Well, this is the forest of Arden. 

Touch. Ay, now am I in Arden ;° the more fool I ; 
when I was at home, I was in a better place : but 
travellers must be content. 

Bos. Ay, be so,° good Touchstone. 



36 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. iv. 

Enter Corin and Silvius 

Look you, who comes here ;° a young man and an 20 
old in solemn talk. 

Cor. That is the way to make her scorn you still. 

Sil. Corin, that thou knew'st how I do love 
her! 

Cor. I partly guess ; for I have loved ere now. 

Sil. No, Corin, being old, thou canst not guess, 
Though in thy youth thou wast as true a lover 
As ever sighed upon a midnight pillow : 
But if thy love were ever like to mine, — 
As sure I think did never man love so, — 
How many actions most ridiculous . 30 

Hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy ? 

Cor. Into a thousand that I have forgotten. 

Sil. 0, thou didst then ne'er love so heartily ! 
If thou remember'st not the slightest folly 
That ever love did make thee run into, 
Thou hast not loved : 
Or if thou hast not sat as I do now, 
Wearying thy hearer in thy mistress' praise, 
Thou hast not loved : 

Or if thou hast not broke from company 40 

Abruptly, as my passion now makes me, 



Act- II. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 37 

Thou hast not loved. 

Phebe, Phebe, Phebe ! [Exit. 
Bos. Alas, poor shepherd ! searching of thy wound, 

1 have by hard adventure found mine own. 

Touch. And I mine. I remember, when I was in 
love I broke my sword upon a stone and bid him° take 
that for coming a-night to Jane Smile : and I remem- 
ber the kissing of her batlet and the cow's dugs that 
her pretty chopt hands had milked: and I re- 50 
member the wooing of a peascod instead of her ; from 
whom I took two cods and, giving her them again, 
said with weeping tears 'Wear these for my sake.' 
We that are true lovers run into strange capers ; but 
as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mor- 
tal in folly. 

Bos. Thou speakest wiser than thou art ware of. 

Touch. Nay, I shall ne'er be ware of mine own wit 
till I break my shins against it. 60 

Bos. Jove, Jove ! this shepherd's passion 
Is much upon my fashion. 

Touch. And mine; but it grows something stale 
with me. 

Cel. I pray you, one of you question yond man 
If he for gold will give us any food : 
I faint almost to death. 



38 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. iv. 

Touch. Holla, you clown ! 

Bos. Peace, fool ; he's not thy kinsman. 

Cor. Who calls? 

Touch. Your betters, sir. 

Cor. Else are they very wretched. 

Bos. Peace, I say. Good even to you, friend. 

Cor. And to you, gentle sir, and to you all. 70 

Bos. I prithee, shepherd, if that love or gold 
Can in this desert place buy entertainment, 
Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed : 
Here's a young maid with travel much oppressed 
And faints for succor. 

Cor. Fair sir, I pity her 

And wish, for her sake more than for mine own, 
My fortunes were more able to relieve her ; 
But I am shepherd to another man 
And do not shear the fleeces that I graze : ° 
My master is of churlish disposition 80 

And little recks to find the way to heaven 
By doing deeds of hospitality : 
Besides, his cote, his flocks, and bounds of feed 
Are now on sale, and at our sheepcote now, 
By reason of his absence, there is nothing 
That you will feed on ; but what is, come see, 
And in my voice most welcome shall you be. 



Act II. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 39 

Ros. What is he that shall buy his flock and pas- 
ture? 

Cor. That young swain that you saw here but ere- 
while, 
That little cares for buying anything. 9 o 

Ros. I pray thee, if it stand with honesty, 
Buy thou the cottage, pasture, and the flock, 
And thou shalt have to pay for it of us. 

Cel. And we will mend thy wages. I like this place, 
And willingly could waste my time in it. 

Cor. Assuredly the thing is to be sold : 
Go with me : if you like upon report 
The soil, the profit, and this kind of life, 
I will your very faithful feeder be 99 

And buy it with your gold right suddenly. [Exeunt. 

Scene V. The forest 
Enter Amiens, Jaques, and others 

Song 

Ami. Under the greenwood tree 

Who loves to lie with me, 
And turn his merry note 
Unto the sweet bird's throat, 
Come hither, come hither, come hither: 



40 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. v. 

Here shall we see 
No enemy 
But winter and rough weather. 

Jaq. More, more, I prithee, more. 

Ami. It will make you melancholy, Monsieur 
Jaques. 10 

Jaq. I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can 
suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs. 
More, I prithee, more. 

Ami. My voice is ragged : I know I cannot please you. 

Jaq. I do not desire you to please me ; I do desire 
you to sing. Come, more; another stanzo: call you 
'em stanzos ?° 

Ami. What you will, Monsieur Jaques. 20 

Jaq. Nay, I care not for their names ; they owe me 
nothing. Will you sing ? 

Ami. More at your request than to please myself. 

Jaq. Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank 
you; but that they call compliment is like the en- 
counter of two dog-apes, and when a man thanks me 
heartily, methinks I have given him a penny and he 
renders me the beggarly thanks. Come, sing ; and 
you that will not, hold your tongues. 30 

Ami Well, I'll end the song. Sirs, cover the 



Act II. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 41 

while ; the Duke will drink under this tree. He hath 
been all this day to look you.° 

Jaq. And I have been all this day to avoid him. 
He is too disputable for my company : I think of as 
many matters as *he ; but I give heaven thanks, and 
make no boast of them. Come, warble, come. 

Song 

Who doth ambition shun, [All together here. 40 
And loves to live i' the sun, 
Seeking the food he eats, 
And pleased with what he gets, 
Come hither, come hither, come hither : 
Here shall he see 
No enemy 
But winter and rough weather. 

Jaq. I'll give you a verse to this note, that I made 
yesterday in despite of my invention. 

Ami. And I'll sing it. 50 

Jaq. Thus it goes : — 

If it do come to pass 
That any man turn ass, 
Leaving his wealth and ease 
A stubborn will to please, 



42 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. vi. 

Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame : 

Here shall he see 

Gross fools as he, 
An if he will come to me. 

Ami. What's that " ducdame" ?° 60 

Jaq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a 

circle. I'll go sleep, if I can ; if I cannot, I'll rail 

against all the first-born of Egypt. 

Ami. And I'll go seek the Duke : his banquet is 

prepared. [Exeunt severally. 

Scene VI. The forest 
Enter Orlando and Adam 

Adam. Dear master, I can go no further ; 0, I die 
for food ! Here lie I down, and measure out my 
grave. Farewell, kind master. 

Orl. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in 
thee ? Live a little ; comfort a little ; cheer thyself a 
little. If this uncouth forest yield anything savage, 
I will either be food for it or bring it for food to 
thee. Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. 
For my sake be comfortable ; hold death awhile at the 
arm's end : I will here be with thee presently ; 10 
and if I bring thee not something to eat, I will give 



Act II. Sc. vii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 43 

thee leave to die : but if thou diest before I come, thou 
art a mocker of my labor. Well said ! thou lookest 
cheerly, and I'll be with thee quickly. Yet thou liest 
in the bleak air : come, I will bear thee to some shelter ; 
and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there 
live anything in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam ! 

[Exeunt. 

Scene VII. The forest 

A table set out. Enter Duke senior, Amiens and Lords 
like outlaws 

Duke S. I think he° be transformed into a beast; 
For I can no where find him like a man. 

First Lord. My lord, he is but even now gone hence : 
Here was he merry, hearing of a song. 

Duke S. If he, compact of jars, grow musical, 
We shall have shortly discord in the spheres. 
Go, seek him : tell him I would speak with him. 

Enter Jaques 

First Lord. He saves my labor by his own approach. 

Duke jS. Why, how now, monsieur ! what a life is this, 
That your poor friends must woo your company ? 10 
What, you look merrily ! 

Jaq. A fool, a fool ! I met a fool i' the forest, 



44 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. vii. 

A motley fool ; a miserable world ! 

As I do live by food, I met a fool ; 

Who laid him down and basked him in the sun, 

And railed on Lady Fortune ° in good terms, 

In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. 

'Good morrow, fool/ quoth I. 'No, sir/ quoth he, 

1 Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune : ' ° 

And then he drew a dial ° from his poke, 20 

And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye, 

Says very wisely, ' It is ten o'clock : 

Thus we may see/ quoth he, 'how the world wags: 

'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine ; 

And after one hour more 'twill be eleven ; 

And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, 

And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; 

And thereby hangs a tale.' When I did hear 

The motley fool thus moral on the time, 

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, 30 

That fools should be so deep-contemplative ; 

And I did laugh sans intermission 

An hour by his dial. noble fool ! 

A worthy fool ! ° Motley's the only wear. 

Duke S. What fool is this ? 

Jaq. worthy fool ! One that hath been a courtier, 
And says, if ladies be but young and fair, 



Act II. Sc. vii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 45 

They have the gift to know it : and in his brain, 

Which is as dry as the remainder ° biscuit 

After a voyage, he hath strange places crammed 40 

With observation, the which he vents 

In mangled forms. that I were a fool ! 

I am ambitious for a motley ° coat. 

Duke S. Thou shalt have one. 

Jaq. It is my only suit ; ° 

Provided that you weed your better judgments 
Of all opinion that grows rank in them 
That I am wise. I must have liberty 
Withal, as large a charter as the win*!, 
To blow on whom I please ; for so fools have ; 
And they that are most galled with my folly, 50 

They most must laugh. And why, sir, must they so ? 
The ' why ' is plain as way to parish church : 
He that a fool doth very wisely hit 
Doth very foolishly, although he smart, 
Not to seem senseless of the bob : if not, 
The wise man's folly is anatomized ° 
Even by the squandering glances of the fool. 
Invest me in my motley ; give me leave 
To speak my mind, and I will through and through 
Cleanse the foul body of the infected world, 60 

If they will patiently receive my medicine. 



46 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. vii. 

Duke S. Fie on thee ! I can tell what thou wouldst 
do. 

Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do but good ? 

Duke S. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin : 
For thou thyself hast been a libertine, 
As sensual as the brutish sting itself; 
And all the embossed sores and headed evils, 
That thou with license of free foot hast ° caught, 
Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world. 

Jaq. Why, who cries out on pride, 70 

That can therein tax ° any private party ? 
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea, 
Till that the weary very ° means do ebb ? 
What woman in the city do I name, 
When that I say the city-woman bears 
The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders ? 
Who can come in and say that I mean her, 
When such a one as she such is her neighbor ? 
Or what is he of basest function, 

That says his bravery is not on my cost, 80 

Thinking that I mean him, but therein suits 
His folly to the mettle of my speech ? 
There then ; how then ? what then ? Let me see 

wherein 
My tongue hath wronged him : if it do him right, 



Act II. Sc. vii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 47 

Then he hath wronged himself; if he be free, 
Why then my taxing like a wild-goose flies, 
Unclaimed of any man. But who comes here ? 

Enter Orlando, with his sword drawn 

Orl. Forbear, and eat no more. 

Jaq. Why, I have eat none yet. 

Orl. ISTor shalt not, till necessity be served. 

Jaq. Of what kind should this cock come of ? 90 

Duke S. Art thou thus boldened, man, by thy dis- 
tress ? 
Or else a rude despiser of good manners, 
That in civility thou seem'st so empty ? 

Orl. You touched my vein at first : the thorny point 
Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show 
Of smooth civility : yet am I inland bred 
And know some nurture. But forbear, I say : 
He dies that touches any of this fruit 
Till I and my affairs are answered. 

Jaq. An you will not be answered with reason, I 
must die. 100 

Duke S. What would you have ? Your gentleness 
shall force, 
More than your force move us to gentleness. 

Orl. I almost die for food ; and let me have it. 



48 ^S YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. vii. 

Duke S. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our 
table. 

Orl. Speak you so gently ? Pardon me, I pray you : 
I thought that all things had been savage here ; 
And therefore put I on the countenance 
Of stern commandment. But whate'er you are 
That in this desert inaccessible, no 

Under the shade of melancholy boughs, 
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time ; 
If ever you have looked on better days, 
If ever been where bells have knolled to church, 
If ever sat at any good man's feast, 
If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear 
And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied, 
Let gentleness my strong enforcement be : 
In the which hope I blush, and hide my sword. 

Duke S. True is it that we have seen better days, 120 
And have with holy bell been knolled to church, 
And sat at good men's feasts, and wiped our eyes 
Of drops that sacred pity hath engendered : 
And therefore sit you down in gentleness 
And take upon command what help we have 
That to your wanting may be ministered. 

Orl. Then but forbear your food a little while, 
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn 



Act II. Sc. vii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 49 

And give it food. There is an old poor man, 
Who after me hath many a weary step 130 

Limped in pure love : till he be first sufficed, 
Oppressed with two weak evils, age and hunger, 
I will not touch a bit. 

Duke S. Go find him out, 

And we will nothing waste till you return. 

Orl. I thank ye ; and be blest for your good com- 
fort ! [Exit 

Duke S. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy : 
This wide and universal theatre 
Presents more woful pageants than the scene 
Wherein we play in. 

Jaq. All the world's a stage, 

And all the men and women merely players : 140 

They have their exits and their entrances ; 
And one man in his time plays many parts, 
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, 
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. 
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, 
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, 
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, 150 



50 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act II. Sc. vii. 

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, 

Seeking the bubble reputation 

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, 

In fair round belly with good capon lined, 

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 

Full of wise saws and modern instances ;° 

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts 

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, 

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 160 

For his shrunk shank ;° and his big manly voice, 

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, 

That ends this strange eventful history, 

Is second childishness and mere oblivion, 

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 

Re-enter Orlando, ivith Adam 

Duke S. Welcome. Set down your venerable bur- 
then, 
And let him feed. 

Orl. I thank you most for him. 

Adam. So had you need : 

I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. 170 

Duke S. Welcome ; fall to : I will not trouble you 



Act II. Sc. vii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 51 

As yet, to question you about your fortunes. 
Give us some music ; and, good cousin, sing. 

Song 

Ami. Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
Thou art not so unkind 
As man's ingratitude ; 
Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou art not seen, 
Although thy breath be rude. 
Heigh-ho ! sing, heigh-ho ! unto the green holly : 180 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly : 
Then, heigh-ho the holly ! 
This life is most jolly. 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
That dost not bite so nigh 

As benefits forgot : 
Though thou the waters warp, 
Thy sting is not so sharp 

As friend remembered not. 
Heigh-ho ! sing, &c. 190 

Duke S. If that you were the good Sir Rowland's 
son, 
As you have whispered faithfully you were, 



52 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. i. 

And as mine eye doth his effigies witness 

Most truly limned and living in your face, 

Be truly welcome hither : I am the Duke 

That loved your father : the residue of your fortune, 

Go to my cave and tell me. Good old man, 

Thou art right welcome as thy master is. 

Support him by the arm. Give me your hand, i 99 

And let me all your fortunes understand. [Exeunt. 



ACT III 

Scene I. A room in the palace 

Enter Duke Frederick, Lords, and Oliver 

Duke F. Not see him since? Sir, sir, that can- 
not be : 
But were I not the better part made mercy, 
I should not seek an absent argument 
Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it : 
Find out thy brother, wheresoe'er he is ; 
Seek him with candle ; bring him dead or living 
Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more 
To seek a living in our territory. 
Thy lands and all things that thou dost call thine 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 53 

Worth seizure do we seize into our hands, 10 

Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth 
Of what we think against thee.° 

Oli. that your Highness knew my heart in this ! 
I never loved my brother in my life. 

Duke F. More villain thou. Well, push him out of 
"doors ;° 
And let my officers of such a nature 
Make an extent°upon his house and lands : 
Do this expediently and turn him going. [Exeunt. 



Scene II. The forest 
Enter Orlando, with a paper 

Orl. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love : 

And thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey 
With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above, 

Thy huntress' name that my full life doth sway. 
Rosalind ! these trees shall be my books 

And in their barks my thoughts I'll character ; 
That every eye which in this forest looks 

Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere. 
Run, run, Orlando ; carve on every tree 
The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she. [Exit, io 



54 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

Enter Corin and Touchstone 

Cor. And how like you this shepherd's life, Master 
Touchstone ? 

Touch. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a 
good life ; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, 
it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like 
it very well ; but in respect that it is private, it is a 
very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, 
it pleaseth me well ; but in respect it is not in the 
court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look 20 
you, it fits rny humor well ; but as there is no more 
plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast 
any philosophy in thee, shepherd ? 

Cor. No more but that I know the more one sickens 
the worse at ease he is ; and that he that wants money, 
means, and content is without three good friends ; that 
the property of rain is to wet and fire to burn ; that 
good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a great 
cause - of the night is lack of the sun ; that he that 30 
hath learned no wit by nature nor art may com- 
plain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kin- 
dred. 

Touch. Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast 
ever in court, shepherd ? 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 55 

Cor. No, truly. 

Touch. Then thou art damned. 

Cor. Nay, I hope. 

Touch. Truly, thou art damned, like an ill-roasted 
egg° all on one side. 

Cor. For not being at court ? Your reason. 40 

Touch. Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never 
sawest good manners ; if thou never sawest good man- 
ners, then thy manners must be wicked ; and wicked- 
ness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a 
parlous state, shepherd. 

Cor. Not a whit, Touchstone : those that are good 
manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country 
as the behavior of the country is most mockable at 
the court. You told me you salute not at the court, 
but you kiss your hands : that courtesy would be 50 
uncleanly, if courtiers were shepherds. 

Touch. Instance, briefly ; come, instance. 

Cor. Why, we are still handling our ewes, and their 
fells, you know, are greasy. 

Touch. Why, do not your courtier's hands sweat ? 
and is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as 
the sweat of a man? Shallow, shallow. A better 
instance, I say ; come. 

Cor. Besides, our hands are hard. 60 



56 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

Touch. Your lips will feel them the sooner. Shal- 
low again. A more sounder instance, come. 

Cor. And they are often tarred over with the sur- 
gery of our sheep ; and would you have us kiss tar ? 
The courtier's hands are perfumed with civet. 

Touch. Most shallow man ! thou worms-meat, in 
respect of a good piece of flesh indeed ! Learn of the 
wise, and perpend : civet is of a baser birth than tar, 
the very uncleanly flux of a cat. Mend the in- 70 
stance, shepherd. 

Cor. You have too courtly a wit for me : I'll rest. 

Touch. Wilt thou rest damned ? ° God help thee, 
shallow man ! God make incision in thee ! thou art 
raw. 

Cor. Sir, I am a true laborer : I earn that I eat, get 
that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happi- 
ness, glad of other men's good, content with my harm, 
and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes 80 
graze and my lambs suck. 

Touch. That is another simple sin in you. If thou 
beest not damned for this, the devil himself will have 
no shepherds; I cannot see else how thou shouldst 
'scape. 9° 

Cor. Here comes young Master Ganymede, my 
new mistress's brother. 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 57 

Enter Rosalind, with a paper, reading 

Ros. From the east to western Ind, 
No jewel is like Eosalind. 
Her worth, being mounted on the wind, 
Through all the world bears Eosalind. 
All the pictures fairest lined 
Are but black to Rosalind. 
Let no face be kept in mind 
But the fair of Rosalind. ioo 

Touch. I'll rhyme you so eight years together 
dinners and suppers and sleeping-hours excepted: it 
is the right butter-women's rank to market. 

Ros. Out, fool ! 

Touch. For a taste : 

If a hart do lack a hind, 

Let him seek out Rosalind. 

If the cat will after kind, 

So be sure will Rosalind. no 

Winter garments must be lined, 

So must slender Rosalind. 

They that reap must sheaf and bind; 

Then to cart with Rosalind. 

Sweetest nut hath sourest rind, 



58 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

Such, a nut is Rosalind. 

He that sweetest rose will find, 

Must find love's prick and Rosalind. 

This is the very false gallop of verses : why do you 
infect yourself with them ? 120 

Eos. Peace, you dull fool ! I found them on a 
tree. 

Touch. Truly, the tree yields bad fruit. 

Eos. I'll graff it with you, and then I shall graff 
it with a medlar : ° then it will be the earliest fruit 
i' the country ; for you'll be rotten ere you be half 
ripe, and that's the right virtue of the medlar. 

Touch. You have said; but whether wisely or no, 
let the forest judge. 130 

Enter Celia, ivith a writing 
Eos. Peace! 
Here comes my sister, reading : stand aside. 
Cel. [reads'] Why should this a desert be ? 
For it is unpeopled ? No ; 
Tongues I'll hang on every tree, 
That shall civil sayings show: 
Some, how brief the life of man 

Runs his erring pilgrimage, 
That the stretching of a span 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 59 

Buckles in his sum of age ; 140 

Some, of violated vows 

? Twixt the souls of friend and friend : 
But upon the fairest boughs, 

Or at every sentence end, 
Will I Rosalinda write, 

Teaching all that read to know 
The quintessence of every sprite 

Heaven would in little show. 
Therefore Heaven Nature charged 

That one body, should be filled 150 

With all graces wide-enlarged : 

Nature presently distilled 
Helen's cheek, but not her heart, 

Cleopatra's majesty, 
Atalanta's better part, 

Sad Lucretia's modesty. 
Thus Rosalind of many parts 

By heavenly synod was devised ; 
Of many faces, eyes, and hearts, 

To have the touches dearest prized. 160 
Heaven would that she these gifts should have, 
And I to live and die her slave. 

Mos. most gentle pulpiter ! ° what tedious horn- 



60 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

ily of love have you wearied your parishioners withal, 
and never cried ' Have patience, good people ' ! 

Cel. How now ! back, friends ! Shepherd, go off a 
little. Go with him, sirrah. 

Touch. Come, shepherd, let us make an honorable 
retreat; though not with bag and baggage, yet 170 
with scrip and scrippage. 

[Exeunt Corin and Touchstone. 

Cel. Didst thou hear these verses ? 

Bos. 0, yes, I heard them all, and more too ; for 
some of them had in them more feet than the verses 
would bear. 

Cel. That's no matter: the feet might bear the 
verses. 

Bos. Ay, but the feet were lame and could not bear 
themselves without the verse and therefore stood 
lamely in the verse. 180 

Cel. But didst thou hear without wondering how 
thy name should be hanged and carved upon these 
trees ? 

Bos. I was seven of the nine days out of the won- 
der before you came ; for look here what I found 
on a palm tree. I was never so be-rhymed since 
Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat, which 
I can hardly remember 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 61 

Cel. Trow you who hath done this ? 

Bos. Is it a man ? 190 

Cel. And a chain, that you once wore, about his 
neck. Change you color ? 

Bos. I prithee, who ? ° 

Cel. Lord, Lord ! it is a hard matter for friends 
to meet ; ° but mountains may be removed with earth- 
quakes and so encounter. 

Bos. Nay, but who is it ? 

Cel. Is it possible ? 

Bos. Nay, I prithee now with most petitionary 
vehemence, tell me who it is. 200 

Cel. wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful 
wonderful ! and yet again wonderful, and after that, 
out of all whooping ! ° 

Bos. Good my complexion ! ° dost thou think, though 
I am caparisoned like a man, I have a doublet and 
hose in my disposition ? One inch of delay more 
is a South-sea of discovery ; ° I prithee, tell me 
who is it quickly, and speak apace. I would 
thou couldst stammer, that thou mightst pour 
this concealed man out of thy mouth, as wine 210 
comes out of a narrow-mouthed bottle, either too 
much at once, or none at all. I prithee, take the 
cork out of thy mouth that I may drink thy tid- 



62 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

ings. Is he of God's making ? What manner of 
man ? Is his head worth a hat ? Or his chin worth 
a beard ? 

Cel. Nay, he hath but a little beard. 

Bos. Why, God will send more, if the man will 220 
be thankful : let me stay the growth of his beard, if 
thou delay me not the knowledge of his chin. 

Cel. It is young Orlando, that tripped up the wres- 
tler's heels and your heart both in an instant. 

Bos. Nay, but the devil take mocking : speak sad 
brow° and true maid. 

Cel. V faith, coz, 'tis he. 

Bos. Orlando ? 

Cel. Orlando. 230 

Bos. Alas the day ! what shall I do with my doublet 
and hose ? What did he when thou sawest him ? 
What said he ? How looked he ? Wherein went he ? 
What makes he here ? Did he ask for me ? Where 
remains he ? How parted he with thee ? and when 
shalt thou see him again ? Answer me in one word. 

Cel. You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first : 
'tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size. 
To say ay and no to these particulars is more than 240 
to answer in a catechism. 

Bos. But doth he know that I am in this forest 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 63 

and in man's apparel ? Looks he as freshly as he did 
the day he wrestled ? 

Cel. It is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the 
propositions of a lover ; but take a taste of my finding 
him, and relish it with good observance. I found him 
under a tree, like a dropped acorn. 

Eos. It may well be called Jove's tree, when it 
drops forth such fruit. 250 

Cel. Give me audience, good madam. 

Eos. Proceed. 

Cel. There lay he, stretched along, like a wounded 
knight. 

Eos. Though it be pity to see such a sight, it well 
becomes the ground. 

Cel. Cry < holla ' to thy tongue, I prithee ; it curvets 
unseasonably. He was furnished like a hunter. 

Eos. 0, ominous ! he comes to kill my heart. 260 

Cel. I would sing my song without a burden :° thou 
bringest me out of tune. 

Eos. Do you not know I am a woman ? when I 
think, I must speak. Sweet, say on. 

Cel. You bring me out. Soft ! comes he not here ? 

Enter Orlando and Jaques 
Eos. 'Tis he : slink by, and note him. 



64 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

Jaq. I thank you for your company; but, good 
faith, I had as lief have been myself alone. 270 

Orl. And so had I ; but yet, for fashion sake, 
I thank you too for your society. 

Jaq. God buy you : let's meet as little as we can. 

Orl. I do desire we may be better strangers. 

Jaq. I pray you, mar no more trees with writing 
love-songs in their barks. 

Orl. I pray you, mar no more of my verses with 
reading them ill-favoredly. 

Jaq. Eosalind is your love's name ? 280 

Orl. Yes, just. 

Jaq. I do not like her name. 

Orl. There was no thought of pleasing you when 
she was christened. 

Jaq. What stature is she of ? 

Orl. Just as high as my heart. 

Jaq. You are full of pretty answers. Have you not 
been acquainted with goldsmiths' wives, and conned 
them out of rings ? ° 

Orl. Not so; but I answer you right painted 290 
cloth, from whence you have studied your ques- 
tions. 

Jaq. You have a nimble wit : I think 'twas made 
of Atalanta's heels. Will you sit down with me ? 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 65 

and we two will rail against our mistress the world, 
and all our misery. 

Orl. I will chide no breather in the world but 
myself, against whom I know most faults. 

Jaq. The worst fault you have is to be in love. 300 

Orl. "lis a fault I will not change for your best 
virtue. I am weary of you. 

Jaq. By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I 
found you. 

Orl. He is drowned in the brook : look but in, and 
you shall see him. 

Jaq. There I shall see mine own figure. 

Orl. Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher. 

Jaq. I'll tarry no longer with you : farewell,- good 
Signior Love. 310 

Orl. I am glad of your departure : adieu, good 
Monsieur Melancholy. [Exit Jaques. 

Ros. [Aside to Celia] I will speak to him like a 
saucy lackey, and under that habit play the knave 
with him. Do you hear, forester ? 

Orl. Very well : what would you ? 

Ros. I pray you, what is't o'clock ? 

Orl. You should ask me what time 0' day : there 's 
no clock in the forest. 

Bos. Then there is no true lover in the forest j 389 



6Q AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

else sighing every minute and groaning every hour 
would detect the lazy foot of Time as well as a clock. 

Orl. And why not the swift foot of Time ? had not 
that been as proper ? 

Eos. By no means, sir :° Time travels in divers 
paces with divers persons. I'll tell you who Time 
amblp Q withal, who Time trots withal, who Time 
gallops withal, and who he stands still withal. 

Orl. I prithee, who° doth he trot withal ? 330 

Eos. Marry, he trots hard with a young maid 
between the contract of her marriage and the day it is 
solemnized : if the interim be but a se'nnight, Time's 
pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven year. 

Orl. Who ambleb Time withal ? 

Eos. With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich 
man that hath not the gout ; for the one sleeps easily 
because he cannot study, and the other lives mer- 340 
rily because he feels no pain; the one lacking the 
burden of lean and wasteful learning, the other know- 
ing no burden of -heavy tedious penury: these Time 
ambleg withal. 

Orl. Who doth he gallop withal? 

Eos. With a thief to the gallows; for though he go 
as softly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon 
there. 






Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 67 

Orl. Who stays it still withal ? 

Eos. With lawyers in the vacation ; for they sleep 
between term and term and then they perceive 350 
not how Time moves. 

Orl. Where dwell you, pretty youth ? ° 

Eos. With this shepherdess, my sister : here in the 
skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat. 

Orl. Are you native of this place ? 

Eos. As the cony that you see dwell where she is 
kindled. 

Orl. Your accent is something finer than you could 
purchase in so removed a dwelling. 360 

Eos. I have been told so of many: but indeed an 
old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak, who 
was in his youth an inland man ; one that knew court- 
ship too well, for there he fell in love. I have heard 
him read many lectures against it, and I thank God I 
am not a woman, to be touched with so many giddy 
offences as he hath generally taxed their whole sex 
withal. 

Orl. Can you remember any of the principal evils 
that he laid to the charge of women ? 370 

Eos. There were none principal ; they were all like 
one another as half-pence are, every one fault seeming 
monstrous till his fellow-fault came to match it. 



68 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

Orl. I prithee, recount some of them. 

Ros. No, I will not cast away my physic but on 
those that are sick. There is a man haunts the forest, 
that abuses our young plants with carving Eosalind 
on their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns and 380 
elegies on brambles ; all, forsooth, deifying ° the name 
of Eosalind : if I could meet that fancy-monger, I 
would give him some good counsel, for he seems to 
have the quotidian of love upon him. 

Orl. I am he that is so love-shaked: ° I pray you, 
tell me your remedy. 

Ros. There is none of my uncle's marks upon you : 
he taught me how to know a man in love ; in which 
cage of rushes I am sure you are not prisoner. 390 

Orl. What were his marks ? 

Ros. A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue 
eye and sunken, which you have not ; an unquestion- 
able spirit, which you have not ; a beard neglected, 
which you have not ; but I pardon you for that, for 
simply your having in beard is a younger brother's 
revenue : then your hose should be ungartered, your 
bonnet unhanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe 
untied and everything about you demonstrating 400 
a careless desolation; but you are no such man; 
you are rather point-device in your accoutrements, 



Act III. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 69 

as loving yourself than seeming the lover of any 
other. 

Orl. Fair youth, I would I could make thee believe 
I love. 

Eos. Me believe it!° you may as soon make her 
that you love believe it ; which, I warrant, she is apter 
to do than to confess she does : that is one of the 
points in the which women still give the lie to their 
consciences. But, in good sooth, are you he that 410 
hangs the verses on the trees, wherein Rosalind is so 
admired ? 

Orl. I swear to thee, youth, by the white hand of 
Rosalind, I am that he, that unfortunate he. 

Eos. But are you so much in love as your rhymes 
speak ? 

Orl. Neither rhyme nor reason can express how 
much. 

Eos. Love is merely a madness ; and, I tell 420 
you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as mad- 
men do : and the reason why they are not so punished 
and cured is, that the lunacy is so ordinary that the 
whippers are in love too. Yet I profess curing it by 
counsel. 

Orl. Did you ever cure any so ? 

Eos. Yes, one, and in this manner. He was to 



70 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. ii. 

imagine me his love, his mistress ; and I set him every 
day to woo me : at which time would I, being but a 
moonish youth, grieve, be effeminate, changeable, 430 
longing and liking ; proud, fantastical, apish, shallow, 
inconstant, full of tears, full of smiles; for every 
passion, something and for no passion truly anything, 
as boys and women are for the most part cattle of 
this color : would now like him, now loathe him ; then 
entertain him, then forswear him ; now weep for him, 
then spit at him ; that I drave my suitor from his 
mad humor of love to a living humor of madness ; 
which was, to forswear the full stream of the 440 
world and to live in a nook merely monastic. And 
thus I cured him ; and this way will I take upon me 
to wash your liver as clean as a sound sheep's heart, 
that there shall not be one spot of love in't. 

Orl. I would not be cured, youth. 

Ros. I would cure you, if you would but call me 
Kosalind and come every day to my cote and woo me. 

Orl. Now, by the faith of my love, I will : tell me 
where it is. 45° 

Ros. Go with me to it and I'll show it you : and by 
the way° you shall tell me where in the forest you live. 
Will you go ? 

Orl. With all my heart, good youth. 



Act III. Sc. iii.j AS YOU LIKE IT 71 

Eos. Nay, you must call me Rosalind. Come, 
sister, will you go ? [Exeunt. 



Scene III. TJie forest 
Enter Touchstone and Audrey ; Jaques behind 

Touch. Come apace, good Audrey : I will fetch up 
your goats, Audrey. And how, Audrey ? am I the 
man yet ? doth my simple feature content you ? 

And. Your features ! Lord warrant us ! what 
features ? ° 

Touch. I am here with thee and thy goats, as the 
most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the 
Goths. 

Jaq. [Aside] knowledge ill-inhabited, worse 10 
than Jove in a thatched house ! ° 

Touch. When a man's verses cannot be understood, 
nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, 
understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a 
great reckoning in a little room. Truly, I would the 
gods had made thee poetical. 

Aud. I do not know what ' poetical ' is : is it honest 
in deed and word ? is it a true thing ? 

Touch. No, truly ; for the truest poetry is the most 



72 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. iii. 

feigning ; and lovers are given to poetry, and what 20 
they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do 
feign. 

Aud. Do you wish then that the gods had made me 
poetical ? 

Touch. I do, truly ; for thou swearest to me thou 
art honest : now, if thou wert a poet, I might have 
some hope thou didst feign. 

Aud. Would you not have me honest ? 

Touch. No, truly, unless thou wert hard-favored; 
for honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a 30 
sauce to sugar. 

Jaq. [Aside] A material fool ! 

Aud. Well, I am not fair ; and therefore I pray the 
gods make me honest. 

Touch. Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul 
slut were to put good meat into an unclean dish. 

Aud. I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am 
foul. 

Touch. Well, praised be the gods for thy foul- 40 
ness ! sluttishness may come hereafter. But be it as 
it may be, I will marry thee, and to that end I have 
been with Sir Oliver Martext the vicar of the next 
village, who hath promised to meet me in this place 
of the forest and to couple us. 



Act III. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 73 

Jaq. [Aside] I would fain see this meeting. 

Aud. Well, the gods give us joy !° 

Touch. Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful 
heart, stagger in this attempt; for here we have no 
temple but the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. 50 
But what though ? Courage ! Here comes Sir Oliver. 

Enter Sir Oliver Martext 

Sir Oliver Martext, you are well met : will you dis- 
patch us here under this tree, or shall we go with you 
to your chapel ? 

Sir Oli. Is there none here to give the woman ? 

Touch. I will not take her on gift of any man. 

Sir Oli. Truly, she must be given, or the mar- 70 
riage is not lawful. 

Jaq. Proceed, proceed : I'll give her. 

Touch. Good even, good Master What-ye-call 't : ° ho w 
do you, sir ? You are very well met : God 'ild you for 
your last company : I am very glad to see you : even 
a toy in hand here, sir : nay, pray be covered. 

Jaq. Will you be married, motley ? 

Touch. As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse 80 
his curb and the falcon her bells, so man hath 
his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would 
be nibbling. 



74 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. iii. 

Jaq. And will you, being a man of your breeding, 
be married under a bush like a beggar ? Get you to 
church, and have a good priest that can tell you what 
marriage is : this fellow will but join you together as 
they join wainscot ; then one of you will prove a 
shrunk panel, and like green timber warp, warp. * 90 
Touch. [Aside - ] I am not in the mind but I were 
better to be married of him than of another : for he is 
not like to marry me well ; and not being well mar- 
ried, it will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave 
my wife. 

Jaq. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee. 
Touch. Come, sweet Audrey : 
We must be married, or we must live in bawdry. 
Farewell, good Master Oliver : not, — 100 

sweet Oliver, 
brave Oliver, 
Leave me not behind thee : 
but, — 

Wind away, 
Begone, I say, 
I will not to wedding with thee. 
[Exeunt Jaques, Touchstone, and Audrey. 
Sir OIL 'Tis no matter: ne'er a fantastical knave 
of them all shall flout me out of my calling. [Exit. 



Act III. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 75 

Scene IV. The forest 
Enter Rosalind and Celia 

Bos. Never talk to me ; I will weep. 

Cel. Do, I prithee ; bat yet have the grace to con- 
sider that tears do not become a man. 

Eos. But have I not cause to weep ? 

Cel. As good cause as one would desire ; therefore 
weep. 

Bos. His very hair is of the dissembling color. 

Cel. Something browner than Judas' s : marry, his 
kisses are Judas's own children. 10 

Bos. V faith, his hair is of a good color. 

Cel. An excellent color: your chestnut was ever 
the only color. 

Bos. And his kissing is as full of sanctity as the 
touch of holy bread. 

Cel. He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana : 
a nun of winter's sisterhood kisses not more re- 
ligiously ; the very ice of chastity is in them. 

Bos. But why did he swear he would come this 20 
morning, and comes not ? 

Cel. Nay, certainly, there is no truth in him. 

Bos. Do you think so ? 



76 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. iv. 

Cel. Yes ; I think he is not a pick-purse nor a 
horse-stealer ; but for his verity in love, I do think 
him as concave as a covered goblet or a worm-eaten 
nut. 

Bos. Not true in love ? 

Cel. Yes, when he is in ; but I think he is not in. 30 

Bos. You have heard him swear downright he 
was. 

Cel. l Was '° is not ' is ' : besides, the oath of a 
lover is no stronger than the word of a tapster; 
they are both the confirmer of false reckonings. 
He attends here in the forest on the Duke your 
father. 

Bos. I met the Duke yesterday and had much ques- 
tion with him : he asked me of what parentage I was ; 
I told him, of as good as he ; so he laughed and let 40 
me go. But what talk we of fathers, when there is 
such a man as Orlando ? 

Cel. 0, that's a brave man ! he writes brave verses, 
speaks brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks 
them bravely, quite traverse, athwart the heart of his 
lover ; as a puisny tilter, that spurs his horse but on 
one side, breaks his staff like a noble goose : but all's 
brave that youth mounts and folly guides. Who 
comes here ? 



Act III. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 77 

Enter Corin 

Cor. Mistress and master, you have oft inquired 50 
After the shepherd that complained of love, 
Who°you saw sitting by me on the turf, 
Praising the proud disdainful shepherdess 
That was his mistress. 

Cel. Well, and what of him ? 

Cor. If you will see a pageant truly played, 
Between the pale complexion of true love 
And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain, 
Go hence a little and I shall conduct you, 
If you will mark it. 

Bos. 0, come, let us remove : 

The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. . 60 

Bring us to this sight, and you shall say 
I'll prove a busy actor in their play. [Exeunt. 

Scene V. Another part of the forest 

Enter Silvius and Phebe 

Sil. Sweet Phebe, do not scorn me ; do not, Phebe ; 
Say that you love me not, but say not so 
In bitterness. The common executioner, 
Whose heart the accustomed sight of death makes 
hard, 



78 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. v. 

Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck 
But first begs pardon : will you sterner be 
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops ? 

Enter Kosalind, Celia, and Corin, behind 

Phe. I would not be thy executioner : 
I fly thee, for I would not injure thee. 
Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye : 10 

'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable, 
That eyes, that are the frail'st and softest things, 
Who shut their coward gates on atomies, 
Should be called tyrants, butchers, murderers ! 
Now I do frown on thee with all my heart ; 
And if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee : 
Now counterfeit to swoon ; why now fall down ; 
Or if thou canst not, 0, for shame, for shame, 
Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers ! 
Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee : 20 
Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains 
Some scar of it ; lean but upon a rush, 
The cicatrice and capable im pressure 
Thy palm some moment keeps ; but now mine eyes, 
Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not, 
Nor,° I am sure, there is no force in eyes 
That can do hurt. 



Act III. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 79 

SU. dear Phebe, 

If ever, — as that ever may be near, — 
You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, 
Then shall you know the wounds invisible 30 

That love's keen arrows make. 

Phe. But till that time 

Come not thou near me : and when that time comes, 
Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not; 
As till that time I shall not pity thee. 

Bos. And why, I pray you ? Who might be your 
mother, 
That you insult, exult, and all at once, 
Over the wretched ? What though you have no 

beauty, — ° 
As, by my faith, I see no more in you 
Than without candle may go dark to bed, — 
Must you be therefore proud and pitiless ? 40 

Why, what means this ? Why do you look on me ? 
I see no more in you than in the ordinary 
Of nature's sale-work. 'Od's my little life, 
I think she means to tangle my eyes too ! 
No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it : 
'Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, 
Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream, 
That can entame my spirits to your worship. 



80 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. v. 

You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her, 

Like foggy south, puffing with wind and rain ? 50 

You are a thousand times a properer man 

Than she a woman : 'tis such fools as you 

That makes the world full of ill-favored children: 

'Tis not her glass, but you, that natters her ; 

And out of you she sees herself more proper 

Than any of her lineaments can show her. 

But, mistress, know yourself : down on your knees, 

And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love : 

For I must tell you friendly in your ear, 

Sell when you can : you are not for all markets : 60 

Cry the man mercy ; love him ; take his offer : 

Foul is most foul,° being foul to be a scoffer. 

So take her to thee, shepherd : fare you well. 

Phe. Sweet youth, I pray you, chide a year together : 
I had rather hear you chide than this man woo. 

Bos. He's fallen in love with your foulness and 
she'll fall in love with my anger. If it be so, as fast 
as she answers thee with frowning looks, I'll sauce her 
with bitter words. Why look you so upon me ? 70 

Phe. For no ill will I bear you. 

Bos. I pray you do not fall in love with me, 
For I am falser than vows made in wine : 
Besides, I like you not. If you will know my house, 



Act III. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 81 

>Tis at the tuft of olives here hard by. 
Will you go, sister ? Shepherd, ply her hard. 
Come, sister. Shepherdess, look on hiui better, 
And be not proud : though all the world could see, 
None could be so abused in sight as he. 80 

Come, to our flock. 

[Exeunt Rosalind, Celia, and Corin. 

Phe. Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, 
* Who ever loved that loved not at first sight ? ' ° 

Sil. Sweet Phebe, — 

Phe. Ha, what say'st thou, Silvius ? 

Sil. Sweet Phebe, pity me. 

Phe. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. 

Sil. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be :° 
If you do sorrow at my grief in love, 
By giving love your sorrow and my grief 
Were both extermined. 

Phe. Thou hast my love : ° is not that neighborly ? 90 

Sil. I would have you. 

Phe. Why, that were covetousness. 

Silvius, the time was that I hated thee, 
And yet it is not that I bear thee love ; 
But since that thou canst talk of love so well, 
Thy company, which erst was irksome to me, 
I will endure, and I'll employ thee too : 



82 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act III. Sc. v. 

But do not look for further recompense 

Than thine own gladness that thou art employed. 

Sil. So holy and so perfect is my love, 
And I in such a poverty of grace, ioo 

That I shall think it a most plenteous crop 
To glean the broken ears after the man 
That the main harvest reaps : loose now and then 
A scattered smile, and that I'll live upon. 

Phe. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me ere- 
while ? 

Sil. Not very well, but I have met him oft ; 
And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds 
That the old carlot once was master of. 

Phe. Think not I love him, though I ask for him ; 
'Tis but a peevish boy ; yet he talks well ; no 

But what care I for words ? yet words do well 
When he that speaks them pleases those that hear. 
It is a pretty youth : ° not very pretty : 
But, sure, he's proud, and yet his pride becomes him : 
He'll make a proper man : the best thing in him 
Is his complexion ; and faster than his tongue 
Did make offence his eye did heal it up. 
He is not very tall ;° yet for his years he's tall : 
His leg is but so so ; and yet 'tis well : 
There was a pretty redness in his lip, 120 



Act III. Sc. v.] AS YOU LIKE IT 83 

A little riper and more lusty red 

Than that mixed in his cheek; 'twas just the difference 

Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask. 

There be some women, Silvius, had they marked him 

In parcels as I did, would have gone near 

To fall in love with him : but, for my part, 

I love him not nor hate him not ; and yet 

I have more cause to hate him than to love him : 

For what had he to do to chide at me ? 

He said mine eyes were black and my hair black ; 130 

And, now I am remembered, scorned at me : 

I marvel why I answered not again : 

But that's all one ; omittance is no quittance. 

I'll write to him a very taunting letter, 

And thou shalt bear it : wilt thou, Silvius ? 

SOL Phebe, with all my heart. 

Plie. I'll write it straight ; 

The matter's in my head and in my heart : 
I will be bitter with him and passing short. 
Go with me, Silvius. [Exeunt. 



84 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. i. 

ACT IV 

Scene I. The forest 
Enter Rosalind, Celia, and Jaques 

Jaq. I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better ac- 
quainted with thee. 

Eos. They say you are a melancholy fellow. 

Jaq. I am so ; I do love it better thaiJ laughing. 

Bos. Those that are in extremity of either are 
abominable fellows, and betray themselves to every 
modern censure worse than drunkards. 

Jaq. Why, 'tis good to be sad 'and say nothing. 

Eos. Why then, 'tis good to be a posTi. 

Jaq. I have neither the scholar's melancholy, 10 
which is emulation ; nor the musician's, which is fan- 
tastical ; nor the courtier's, which is proud ; nor the 
soldier's, which is ambitious ; nor the lawyer's, which 
is politic ; nor the lady's, which is nice ; ° nor the 
lover's, which is all these : but it is a melancholy of 
mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted 
from many objects ; and indeed the sundry contem- 
plation of my travels, in which my often rumination 
wraps me in a most humorous sadness. 20 



Act IV. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 85 

Eos. A traveller ! By my faith, you have great^^e 
reason to be sad : I fear you have sold your own 
lands to see other men's ; then, to have seen much, 
and to have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor 
hands. 

Jaq. Yes, I have gained my experience. 

Eos. And your experience makes you sad : I had 
rather have a fool to make me merry than experience 
to make me sad ; and to travel for it too ! 

Enter Orlando 

Orl. Good-day and happiness, dear Rosalind ! 30 

Jaq. Nay, then, God buy you,° an° you talk in blank 
verse. [Exit. 

Eos. Farewell, Monsieur Traveller : look you lisp 
aiM wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of 
your own country ; be out^f love with your nativity 
and almost chide God for making you that counte- 
nance you are ; or I will scarce think you have swam in 
a gondola. Why, how now, Orlando ! where have you 
been all this while ? ° You a lover ! An you serve 40 
me such another trick, never come in my sight more. 

Orl. My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of 
my promise. 

Eos. Break an hour's promise in love ! He that will 



86 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. i. 

divide a minute into a thousand parts, and break but 
a part of the thousandth part of a minute in the affairs 
of love, it may be said of him that Cupid hath clapped 
him o' the shoulder, but I'll warrant him heart-whole. 

Orl. Pardon me, dear Rosalind. 50 

Ros. Nay, an you be so tardy, come no more in my 
sight : I had as lief be wooed of a snail. 

Orl. Of a snail ? 

Ros. Ay, of a snail ; for though he comes slowly, 
he carries his house on his head ; a better jointure, 
I think, than you make a woman. And I am your 
Rosalind. 

Cel. It pleases him to call you so ; but he hath a 
Rosalind of a better leer° than you. 

Ros. Come, woo me, woo me; for now I am in a 
holiday humor and like enough to consent. What 
would you say to me now, an I were your very 70 
very Rosalind ? 

Orl. I would kiss before I spoke. 

Ros. Nay, you were better speak first; and when 
you were gravelled for lack of matter, you might take 
occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are 
out, they will spit; and for lovers lacking — God warn 
us ! — matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss. 

Orl. How if the kiss be denied ? 



Act IV. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 87 

Bos. Then she puts you to entreaty and there 80 
begins new matter. Am not I your Rosalind ? 

Orl. I take some joy to say you are, because I 90 
would be talking of her. 

Bos. Well, in her person, I say I will not have you. 

Orl. Then in mine own person I die. 

Bos. No, faith, die by attorney. The poor world is 
almost six thousand years old, and in all this time 
there was not any man died in his own person, vide- 
licet, in a love-cause. Troilus had his brains dashed 
out with a Grecian club ; yet he did what he could to 
die before, and he is one of the patterns of love. 
Leander, he° would have lived many a fair year, 100 
though Hero had turned nun, if it had not been for a 
hot midsummer night; for, good youth, he went but 
forth to wash him in the Hellespont and being taken 
with the cramp was drowned : and the foolish chroni- 
clers of that age found it was ' Hero of Sestos.' But 
these are all lies : men have died from time to time 
and worms have eaten them, but not for love. 

■Orl. I would not have my right Rosalind of this 
mind; for, I protest, her frown might kill me. no 

Bos. By this hand, it will not kill a fly. But come, 
now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on dis- 
position, and ask me what you will, I will grant it. 



88 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. i. 

Orl. Then love me, Rosalind. 

Bos. Yes, faith, will I, Fridays and Saturdays and 
all. 

Orl. And wilt thou have me ? 

Bos. Ay, and twenty such. 

Orl. What say est thou ? 120 

Bos. Are you not good ? 

Orl. I hope so. 

Bos. Why then, can one desire too much of a good 
thing? Come, sister, you shall be the priest and 
marry us. Give me your hand, Orlando. What do 
you say, sister ? 

Orl. Pray thee, marry us. 

Cel. I cannot say the words. 

Bos. You must begin, ' Will you, Orlando — ' 

Cel. Go to.° Will you, Orlando, have to wife 130 
this Rosalind ? 

Orl. I will. 

Bos. Ay, but when ? 

Orl. Why now ; as fast as she can marry us. 

Bos. Then you must say ' I take thee, Rosalind, for 
wife/ 

Orl. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife. 

Bos. I might ask you for your commission; but I 
do take thee, Orlando, for my husband : there's a girl 



Act IV. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 89 

goes before the priest ; and certainly a woman's 140 
thought runs before her actions. 

Orl. So do all thoughts ; they are winged. 

Bos. Now tell me how long you would have her 
after you have possessed her. 

Orl. For ever and a day. 

Bos. Say 'a day/ without the 'ever.' No, no, 
Orlando; men are April when they woo, December 
when they wed : maids are May when they are maids, 
but the sky changes when they are wives. I will 150 
be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon 
over his hen, more clamorous than a parrot against 
rain, more new-fangled than an ape, more giddy in my 
desires than a monkey : I will weep for nothing, like 
Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you 
are disposed to be merry ; I will laugh like a hyen, 
and that when thou art inclined to sleep. 

Orl. But will my Rosalind do so ? 

Bos. By my life, she will do as I do. 

Orl. 0, but she is wise. 160 

Bos. Or else she could not have the wit to do this : 
the wiser, the way warder : make the doors upon a 
woman's wit and it will out at the casement; shut 
that and 'twill out at the key-hole ; stop that, 'twill 
fly with the smoke out at the chimney. 



90 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. i. 

Orl. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he 
might say 'Wit, whither wilt?' 

Ros. Nay, you might keep that check for it till you 
met your wife's wit going to your neighbor's bed. 170 

Orl. And what wit could wit have to excuse that. 

Ros. Marry, to say she came to seek you there. 
You shall never take her without her answer, unless 
you take her without her tongue. 0, that woman that 
cannot make her fault her husband's occasion, let her 
never nurse her child herself, for she will breed it like 
a fool ! 

Orl. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave 180 
thee. 

Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours ! 

Orl. I must attend the Duke at dinner: by two 
o'clock I will be with thee again. 

Ros. Ay, go your ways, go your ways ; I knew 
what you would prove: my friends told me as much, 
and I thought no less : that nattering tongue of yours 
won me : 'tis but one cast away, and so, come, death ! 
Two o'clock is your hour ? 190 

Orl. Ay, sweet Rosalind. 

Ros. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God 
mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dan- 
gerous, if you break one jot of your promise or come 



Act IV. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 91 

one minute behind your hour, I will think you the 
most pathetical break-promise, and the most hollow 
lover, and the most unworthy of her you call Rosa- 
lind, that may be chosen out of the gross band of the 
unfaithful : therefore beware my censure and keep 
your promise. 200 

Orl. With no less religion than if thou wert indeed 
my Rosalind : so adieu. 

Bos. Well, Time is the old justice that examines 
all such offenders, and let Time try : adieu. 

[Exit Orlando. 

Gel. You have simply misused our sex° in your 
love-prate : we must have your doublet and hose 
plucked over your head, and show the world what the 
bird hath done to her own nest. 

Bos. coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou 
didst know how many fathom deep I am in love ! 210 
But it cannot be sounded : my affection hath an un- 
known bottom, like the bay of Portugal. 

Cel. Or rather, bottomless ; that as fast as you pour 
affection in, it runs out. 

Bos. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus that 
was begot of thought, conceived of spleen, and born 
of madness, that blind rascally boy that abuses every 
one's eyes because his own are out, let him be 220 



92 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. ii. 

judge how deep I am in love. I'll tell thee, Aliena, 
I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando : I'll go find a 
shadow and sigh till he come. 

Cel. And I'll sleep. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. The forest 
Enter Jaques, Lords, and Foresters 

Jaq. Which is he that killed the deer ? ° 

A Lord. Sir, it was I. 

Jaq. Let's present him to the Duke, like a Roman 
conqueror ; and it would do well to set the deer's horns 
upon his head, for a branch of victory. Have you no 
song, forester, for this purpose ? 

For. Yes, sir. 

Jaq. Sing it : 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so 
it make noise enough. 10 

Song 

For. What shall he have that killed the deer ? 
His leather skin and horns to wear. 
Then sing him home : 

[The rest shall bear this burden. 
Take thou no scorn to wear the horn ; 
It was a crest ere thou wast born : 



Act IV. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 93 

Thy father's father wore it, 

And thy father bore it : 
The horn, the horn, the lusty horn 
Is not a thing to laugh to scorn. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. The forest 
Enter Rosalind and Celia 

Bos. How say you now ? Is it not past two 
o'clock ? and here much Orlando !° 

Cel. I warrant you, with pure love and troubled 
brain, he hath ta'en his bow and arrows and is gone 
forth to sleep. Look, who conies here. 

Enter Silvius 

JSil. My errand is to you, fair youth ; ° 
My gentle Phebe bid me give you this. 
I know not the contents ; but, as I guess 
By the stern brow and waspish action 
Which she did use as she was writing of it, 10 

It bears an angry tenor : pardon me ; 
I am but as a guiltless messenger. 

Bos. Patience herself would startle at this letter 
And play the swaggerer ; bear this, bear all : 
She says I am not fair, that I lack manners ; 



94 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

She calls me proud, and that she could not love me, 
Were men as rare as phoenix. 'Od's my will ! 
Her love is not the hare that I do hunt : 
Why writes she so to me ? Well, shepherd, well, 
This is a letter of your own device. 20 

Sil. No, I protest, I know not the contents. 
Phebe did write it. 

Eos. Come, come, you are a fool, 

And turned into the extremity of love. 
I saw her hand : she has a leather hand, 
A freestone-colored hand ; I verily did think 
That her old gloves were on, but 'twas her hands : 
She has a huswife's hand ; but that's no matter : 
I say she never did invent this letter ; 
This is a man's invention and his hand. 

Sil. Sure, it is hers. 30 

Eos. Why, 'tis a boisterous and a cruel style, 
A style for challengers ; why, she defies me, 
Like Turk to Christian : woman's gentle brain 
Could not drop forth such giant-rude invention, 
Such Ethiope words, blacker in their effect 
Than in their countenance. Will you hear the letter ? 

Sil. So please you, for I never heard it yet ; 
Yet heard too much of Phebe's cruelty. 

Eos. She Phebes me : mark how the tyrant writes. 



Act IV. Sc. Hi] AS YOU LIKE IT 95 

[ Beads ] Art thou god to shepherd turned, 4 o 

That a maiden's heart hath burned ? 

Can a woman rail thus ? 
Sil. Call you this railing ? 
Bos. [ Beads ] 

Why, thy godhead laid apart, 
Warr'st thou with a woman's heart ? 

Did you ever hear such railing ? 

Whiles the eye of man did woo me, 
That could do no vengeance to me. 

Meaning me a beast. 

If the scorn of your bright eyne° 50 

Have power to raise such love in mine, 

Alack, in me what strange effect 

Would they work in mild aspect ! ° 

Whiles you chid me, I did love ; 

How then might your prayers move ! 

He that brings this love to thee 

Little knows this love in me : 

And by him seal up thy mind ; 

Whether that thy youth and kind 

Will the faithful offer take . 60 

Of me and all that I can make ; 

Or else by him my love deny, 

And then I'll study how to die. 



96 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

Sil. Call you this chiding ? 

Cel. Alas, poor shepherd ! 

Ros. Do you pity him ? no, he deserves no pity. 
Wilt thou love such a woman ? What, to make thee an 
instrument and play false strains upon thee ! not to 
be endured ! Well, go your way to her, for I see love 
hath made thee a tame snake, and say this to her : 70 
that if she love me, I charge her to love thee ; if she 
will not, I will never have her unless thou entreat for 
her. If you be a true lover, hence, and not a word ; for 
here comes more company. [Exit Silvius. 

Enter Oliver 

Oli. Good morrow, fair ones : pray you, if you know, 
Where in the purlieus of this forest stands 
A sheep-cote fenced about with olive-trees ? ° 

Cel. West of this place, down in the neighbor 
bottom : 
The rank of osiers by the murmuring stream 80 

Left on your right hand brings you to the place. 
But at this hour the house doth keep itself ; 
There's none within. 

Oli. If that an eye may profit by a tongue, 
Then should I know you by description ; 
Such garments and such years : ' The boy is fair, 



Act IV. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 97 

Of female favor, and bestows himself 

Like a ripe sister : ° the woman low, 

And browner than her brother.' Are not you 

The owner of the house I did inquire for ? 9 o 

Cel. It is no boast, being asked, to say we are. 

Oli. Orlando doth commend him to you both, 
And to that youth he calls his Rosalind 
He sends this bloody napkin. Are you he ? 

Bos. I am : what must we understand by this ? 

Oli. Some of my shame ; if you will know of me 
What man I am, and how, and why, and where 
This handkercher was stained. 

Cel. I pray you, tell it. 

Oli. When last the young Orlando parted from you 
He left a promise to return again ioo 

Within an hour, and pacing through the forest, 
Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy, 
Lo, what befell ! he threw his eye aside, 
And mark what object did present itself : 
Under an oak, whose boughs were mossed with age 
And high top bald with dry antiquity, 
A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, 
Lay sleeping on his back : about his neck 
A green and gilded snake had wreathed itself, 
Who with her head nimble in threats approached no 



98 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

The opening of his mouth ; but suddenly, 

Seeing Orlando, it° unlinked itself, 

And with indented glides did slip away 

Into a bush : under which bush's shade 

A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, 

Lay crouching, head on ground, with catlike watch, 

When that the sleeping man should stir ; for 'tis 

The royal disposition of that beast 

To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead : 

This seen, Orlando did approach the man 120 

And found it was his brother, his elder brother. 

Gel. 0, I have heard him speak of that same 
brother ; 
And he did render him the most unnatural 
That lived amongst men. 

Oli. And well he might so do, 

For well I know he was unnatural. 

Ros. But, to Orlando : did he leave him there, 
Food to the sucked and hungry lioness ? 

OIL Twice did he turn his back and purposed so ; 
But kindness, nobler ever than revenge, 
And nature, stronger than his just occasion, 130 

Made him give battle to the lioness, 
Who quickly fell before him : in which hurtling 
From miserable slumber I awaked. 



Act IV. Sc. iii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 99 

Cel. Are you his brother ? 

Bos. Was't you he rescued ? 

Cel. Was't you that did so oft contrive to kill 
him? 

Oli. 'Twas I ; but 'tis not I : I do not shame 
To tell you what I was, since my conversion 
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. 

Bos. But, for the bloody napkin ? ° 

OIL By and by. 

When from the first to last betwixt us two 140 

Tears our recountments had most kindly bathed, 
As how I came into that desert place, — 
In brief, he led me to the gentle Duke, 
Who gave me fresh array and entertainment, 
Committing me unto my brother's love ; 
Who led me instantly unto his cave, 
There stripped himself, and here upon his arm 
The lioness had torn some flesh away, 
Which all this while had bled ; and now he fainted 
And cried, in fainting, upon Eosalind. 150 

Brief, I recovered him, bound up his wound ; 
And, after some small space, being strong at heart, 
He sent me hither, stranger as I am, 
To tell this story, that you might excuse 
His broken promise, and to give this napkin/ 

LofC. 



100 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

Dyed in his blood, unto the shepherd youth 
That he in sport doth call his Rosalind. 

[Rosalind swoons. 

Cel. Why, how now, Ganymede ! sweet G-anymede ! 

OIL Many will swoon when they do look on blood. 

Cel. There is more in it. Cousin Ganymede ! 160 

OIL Look, he recovers. 

Bos. I would I were at home. 

Cel. We'll lead you thither. 

I pray you, will you take him by the arm ? 

OIL Be of good cheer, youth : you a man ! you lack 
a man's heart. 

Ros. I do so, I confess it. Ah, sirrah, a body would 
think this was well counterfeited ! I pray you, tell 
your brother how well I counterfeited. Heigh-ho ! 

OIL This was not counterfeit : there is too great 170 
testimony in your complexion that it was a passion of 
earnest. 

Ros. Counterfeit, I assure you. 

OIL Well then, take a good heart and counterfeit to 
be a man. 

Ros. So I do: but, i' faith, I should have been a 
woman by right. 

Cel. Come, you look paler and paler : pray you, 
draw homewards. Good sir, go with us. 



Act V. Sc. i.] AS YOU LIKE IT 101 

Oli. That will I, for I must bear answer back 180 
How you excuse my brother, Kosalind. 

Bos. I shall devise something : but, I pray you, 
commend my counterfeiting to him. Will you go ? 

[Exeunt. 



ACT V 

Scene I. The forest 
Enter Touchstone and Audrey 

Touch. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, 
gentle Audrey. 

Aud. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the 
old gentleman's saying. 

Touch. A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most 
vile Martext. But, Audrey, there is a youth here in 
the forest lays claim to you. 

Aud. Ay, I know who 'tis : he hath no interest in 
me in the world : here comes the man you mean. 10 

Touch. It is meat and drink to me to see a 
clown : ° by my troth, we that have good wits have 
much to answer for ; we shall be flouting ;° we cannot 
hold. 



102 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. i. 

Enter William 

Will. Good even, Audrey. 

Aucl. God ye good even, William. 

Will. And good even to you, sir. 

Touch. Good even, gentle friend. Cover thy head, 
cover thy head; nay, prithee, be covered. How old 
are you, friend ? 20 

Will. Five and twenty, sir. 

Touch. A ripe age. Is thy name William ? 

Will. William, sir. 

Touch. A fair name. Wast born i' the forest here ? 

Will. Ay, sir, I thank God. 

Touch. ' Thank God ; ' a good answer. Art rich ? 

Will. Faith, sir, so so. 

Touch. l So so ' is good, very good, very excellent 
good; and yet it is not; it is but so so. Art thou wise? 30 

Will. Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit. 

Touch. Why, thou sayest well. I do now remember 
a saying, l The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise 
man knows himself to be a fool.' The heathen phi- 
losopher, when he had a desire to eat a grape, would 
open his lips when he put it into his mouth ; meaning 
thereby that grapes were made to eat and lips to open. 
You do love this maid ? 40 



Act V. Sc. L] AS YOU LIKE IT 103 

Will. I do, sir. 

Touch. Give me your hand. Art thou learned ? 

Will. No, sir. 

Touch. Then learn this of me : to have, is to have ; 
for it is a figure in rhetoric that drink, being poured 
out of a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty 
the other ; for all your writers do consent that ipse is 
he : now, you are not ipse, for I am he. 

Will. Which he, sir ? 50 

Touch. He, sir, that must marry this woman. 
Therefore, you clown, abandon, — which is in the 
vulgar leave, — the society, — which in the boorish is 
company, — of this female, — which in the common 
is woman ; which together is, abandon the society of 
this female, or, clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better 
understanding, diest ; or, to wit, I kill thee, make thee 
away, translate thy life into death, thy liberty into 
bondage: I will deal in poison with thee, or in 60 
bastinado, or in steel ; I will bandy with thee in 
faction ; I will o'er-run thee with policy ; I will kill 
thee a hundred and fifty ways : therefore tremble, and 
depart. 

Aud. Do, good William. 

Will. God rest you merry, sir. [Exit. 



104 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. ii. 

Enter Corin 

Cor. Our master and mistress seeks you; come, 
away, away ! 

Touch. Trip, Audrey! trip, Audrey! I attend, I 
attend. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. The forest 
Enter Orlando and Oliver 

Orl. Is't possible that on so little acquaintance 
you should like her ? that but seeing you should love 
her ? and loving woo ? and, wooing, she should grant ? 
and will you perse ver to enjoy her ? 

Oli. Neither call the giddiness of it in question, 
the poverty of her, the small acquaintance, my sud- 
den wooing, nor her sudden consenting ; but say with 
me, I love Aliena; say with her that she loves 
me; consent with both that we may enjoy each 10 
other: it shall be to your good: for my father's house 
and all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's will I 
estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd. 

Orl. You have my consent. Let your wedding be 
to-morrow : thither will I invite the Duke and all 's 
contented followers. Go you and prepare Aliena; 
for look you, here comes my Rosalind. 



Act V. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 105 

Enter Rosalind 

Bos. God save you, brother. 20 

Oli. And you, fair sister. [Exit. 

Bos. 0, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see 
thee wear thy heart in a scarf ! 

Orl. It is my arm. 

Bos. I thought thy heart had been wounded with 
the claws of a lion. 

Orl. Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady. 

Bos. Did your brother tell you how I counter- 
feited to swoon when he showed me your handker- 
cher ? 30 

Orl. Ay, and greater wonders than that. 

Bos. 0, I know where you are : nay, 'tis true : 
there was never any thing so sudden but the fight 
of two rams, and Caesar's thrasonical brag° of ' I came, 
saw, and overcame : ' for your brother and my sister 
no sooner met but they looked ; no sooner looked but 
they loved ; no sooner loved but they sighed ; no 
sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason ; 
no sooner knew the reason but they sought the 40 
remedy: and in these degrees have they made a pair 
of stairs to marriage which they will climb inconti- 
nent, or else be incontinent before marriage : they are 



106 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. ii. 

in the very wrath of love and they will together; 
clubs cannot part them. 

Orl. They shall be married to-morrow, and I will 
bid the Duke to the nuptial. But, 0, how bitter a 
thing it is to look into happiness through another 
man's eyes ! By so much the more shall I to-morrow 
be at the height of heart-heaviness, by how much 50 
I shall think my brother happy in having what he 
wishes for. 

Ros. Why, then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn 
for Rosalind ? 

Orl. I can live no longer by thinking. 

Ros. I will weary you then no longer with idle 
talking. Know of me then, for now I speak to some 
purpose, that I know you are a gentleman of good 
conceit : I speak not this that you should bear a good 
opinion of my knowledge, insomuch I say I know 60 
you are ; neither do I labor for a greater esteem than 
may in some little measure draw a belief from you, to 
do yourself good and not to grace me. Believe then, 
if you please, that I can do strange things. I have, 
since I was three year old, conversed with a magi- 
cian, most profound in his art and yet not damnable. 
If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your 
gesture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, 



Act V. Sc. ii.] AS YOU LIKE IT 107 

shall you many her : I know into what straits of 70 
fortune she is driven ; and it is not impossible to me, 
if it appear not inconvenient to you, to set her before 
your eyes to-morrow, human as she is, and without 
any danger. 

Orl. Speakest thou in sober meanings ? 

Ros. By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, 
though I say I am a magician. Therefore, put you in 
your best array ; bid your friends ; for if you will be 
married to-morrow, you shall j and to Rosalind, 80 
if you will. 

Enter Silvius and Phebe 

Look, here comes a lover of mine and a lover of hers. 

Phe. Youth, you have done me much ungentleness, 
To show the letter that I writ to you. 

Bos. I care not if I have : it is my study 
To seem despiteful and ungentle to you : 
You are there followed by a faithful shepherd ; 
Look upon him, love him ; he worships you. 

Phe. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to 
love. 

Sil. It is to be all made of sighs and tears ; 90 

And so am I for Phebe. 

Phe. And I for Ganymede. 



108 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. ii. 

Orl. And I for Rosalind. 

Eos. And I for no woman. 

Sil. It is to be all made of faith and service ; 
And so am I for Phebe. 

Phe. And I for Ganymede. 

Orl. And I for Kosalind. 

Eos. And I for no woman. 

Sil. It is to be all made of fantasy, ioo 

All made of passion, and all made of wishes ; 
All -adoration, duty, and observance, 
All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, 
All purity, all trial, all obedience ; 
And so am I for Phebe. 

Phe. And so am I for Ganymede. 

Orl. And so am I for Rosalind. 

Eos. And so am I for no woman. 

Phe. If this be so, why blame you me to love 
you? no 

Sil. If this be so, why blame you me to love you ? 

Orl. If this be so, why blame you me to love you ? 

Eos. Who do you speak to, ' Why blame you me to 
love you ? ' 

Orl. To her that is not here, nor doth not hear. 

Eos. Pray you, no more of this ; 'tis like the howling 
of Irish wolves against the moon. [To Sil.] I will 



Act V. Sc. Hi] AS YOU LIKE IT 109 

help you, if I can : [To Phe.] I would love you, 120 
if I could. To-morrow meet me all together. [To 
Phe.] I will marry you, if ever I marry woman, 
and Pll be married to-morrow: [To Orl.] I will 
satisfy you, if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be 
married to-morrow : [To Sil.] I will content you, if 
what pleases you contents you, and you shall be 
married to-morrow. \_To Orl.] As you love Rosalind, 
meet: [To Sil.] as you love Phebe, meet : and as I 
love no woman, I'll meet. So, fare you well : I 130 
have left you commands. 

Sil. I'll not fail, if I live. 

Phe. Nor I. 

Orl. Nor I. [Exeunt. 



Scene III. TJie forest 
Enter Touchstone and Audrey 

Touch. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to- 
morrow will we be married. 

Aud. I do desire it with all my heart ; and I hope 
it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a woman of 
the world. Here come two of the banished Duke's 
pages. 



110 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iii. 

Enter tivo Pages 

First Page. Well met, honest gentleman. 

Touch. By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and 
a song. 

Sec. Page. We are for yon : sit i' the middle. 10 

First Page. Shall we clap into 't ronndly, without 
hawking or spitting or saying we are hoarse, which 
are the only prologues to a bad voice ? 

Sec. Page. V faith, i' faith j and both in a tune, like 
two gipsies on a horse. 

Song 

It was a lover and his lass, 

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
That o'er the green corn-field did pass 

In spring time, the only pretty ring time, 20 
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding : 
Sweet lovers love the spring. 

Between the acres of the rye, 

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
These pretty country folks would lie, 

In spring time, etc. 



Act V. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 111 

This carol they began that hour, 

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 

How that a life was but a flower 

In spring time, etc. 30 

And therefore take the present time, 
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino ; 

For love is crowned with the prime 
In spring time, etc. 

Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was 
no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very 
untuneable. 

First Page. You are deceived, sir: we kept time, 
we lost not our time. 

Touch. By my troth, yes ; ° I count it but time 40 
lost to hear such a foolish song. God be wi' you ; and 
God mend your voices ! Come, Audrey. [Exeunt. 

Scene IV. The forest 

Enter Duke senior, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, 
Oliver, and Celia 

Duke S. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy 
Can do all this that he hath promised ? 

Orl. I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not ; 
As those that fear they hope, and know they fear. 



112 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iv. 

Enter Rosalind, Silvius, and Phebe 

Bos. Patience once more, whiles our compact is 
urged : 
You say, if I bring in your Rosalind, 
You will bestow her on Orlando here ? 

Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give 
with her. 

Bos. And you say, you will have her, when I bring 
her. 

Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king. 10 

Bos. You say, you'll marry me, if I be willing ? 

Phe. That will I, should I die the hour after. 

Bos. But if you do refuse to marry me, 
You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd ? 

Phe. So is the bargain. 

Bos. You say, that you'll have Phebe, if she will ? 

Sil. Though to have her and death were both one 
thing. 

Bos. I have promised to make all this matter even. 
Keep you your word, Duke, to give your daughter ; 
You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter : 20 

Keep your word, Phebe, that you'll marry me, 
Or else refusing me, to wed this shepherd : 
Keep your word, Silvius, that you'll marry her, 



Act V. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 113 

If she refuse me : and from hence I go, 
To make these doubts all even. 

[Exeunt Rosalind and Celia. 

Duke S. I do remember in this shepherd boy 
Some lively touches of my daughter's favor. 

OH. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him 
Methought he was a brother to your daughter : 
But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born, 30 

And hath been tutored in the rudiments 
Of many desperate studies by his uncle, 
Whom he reports to be a great magician, 
Obscured in the circle of this forest. 

Enter Touchstone and Audrey 

Jaq. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these 
couples are coming to the ark. Here comes a pair 
of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called 
fools. 

Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all ! 

Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome : this is 40 
the motley-minded gentleman that I have so often met 
in the forest : he hath been a courtier, he swears. 

Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me 
to my purgation. I have trod a measure; I have 
flattered a lady ; I have been politic with my friend, 



114 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iv. 

smooth with mine enemy ; I have undone three tailors ; 
I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one. 

Jaq. And how was that ta'en up ? 50 

Touch. Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was 
upon the seventh cause. 

Jaq. How seventh cause ? Good my lord, like this 
fellow. . 

Duke S. I like him very well. 

Touch. God 'ild you, sir ; I desire you of the like. 
I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of ihe coun- 
try copulatives, to swear and to forswear ; accord- 
ing as marriage binds and blood breaks : a poor 
virgin, sir, an ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own ; 60 
a poor humor of mine, sir, to take that that no 
man else will : rich honesty dwells like a miser, 
sir, in a poor house; as your pearl in your foul 
oyster. 

Duke S. By my faith, he is very swift and 
sententious. 

Touch. According to the fool's bolt, sir, and such 
dulcet diseases. 

Jaq. But, for the seventh cause.; how did you find 
the quarrel on the seventh cause ? 70 

Touch. Upon a lie seven times removed : — bear 
your body more seeming, Audrey : — as thus, sir. 



Act V. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 115 

I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier's beard : 
he sent me word, if . I said his beard was not cut 
well, he was in the mind it was : this is called the 
Retort Courteous. If I sent him word again 'it 
was not well cut,' he would send me word, he cut 
it to please himself : this is called the Quip Modest. 
If again ' it was not well cut,' he disabled my judg- 
ment : this is called the Reply Churlish. If 80 
again 'it was not well cut,' he would answer, I 
spake not true : this is called the Reproof Valiant. 
If again 'it was not well cut,' he would say, I 
lied : this is called the Countercheck Quarrelsome : 
and so to the Lie Circumstantial and the Lie Direct. 

Jaq. And how oft did you say his beard was not 
well cut? 

Touch. I durst go no further than the Lie Circum- 
stantial, nor he durst not give me the Lie Direct ; 90 
and so we measured swords and parted. 

Jaq. Can you nominate in order now the degrees of 
the lie ? 

Touch. sir, we quarrel in print, by the book ; ° as 
you have books for good manners : ° I will name you 
the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous ; the 
second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply 
Churlish ; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant ; the fifth, 



116 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iv. 

the Countercheck Quarrelsome ; the sixth, the Lie ioo 
with Circumstance ; the seventh, the Lie Direct. All 
these you may avoid but the Lie Direct ; and you may 
avoid that too, with an If. I knew when seven jus- 
tices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties 
were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If, 
as 'If you said so, then I said so;' and they shook 
hands and swore brothers. Your If is the only peace- 
maker ; much virtue in If. 

Jaq. Is not this a rare fellow, my lord ? he's as good 
at any thing and yet a fool. no 

Duke S. He uses his folly like a stalking-horse and 
under the presentation of that he shoots his wit. 

Enter Hymen, Rosalind, and Celia. Still Music. 

Hym. Then is there mirth in heaven, 
When earthly things made even 
Atone together. 

Good Duke, receive thy daughter 
Hymen from heaven brought her, 

Yea, brought her hither, 
That thou mightst join her hand with his 120 
Whose heart within his bosom is. 

Bos. [To Duke S.] To you I give myself, for I 
am yours. 



Act V. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 11? 

[To Orl.] To you I give myself, for I am yours. 
Duke jS. If there be truth in sight, you are my 

daughter. 
Orl. If there be truth in sight, you are my Eosalind. 
Phe. If sight and shape be true, 

Why then, my love adieu ! ° 
Bos. I'll have no father, if you be not he : 

I'll have no husband, if you be not he : 
Nor ne'er wed woman, if you be not she. 130 
Hym. Peace, ho ! I bar confusion : 
'Tis I must make conclusion 

Of these most strange events : 
Here's eight that must take hands 
To join in Hymen's bands, 

If truth holds true contents. 
You and you no cross shall part : 
You and you are heart in heart : 
You to his love must accord, 
Or have a woman to your lord : 140 

You and you are sure together, 
As the winter to foul weather. 
Whiles a wedlock-hymn we sing, 
Feed yourselves with questioning ; 
That reason wonder may diminish, 
How thus we met, and these things finish. 



118 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iv. 

Song 

Wedding is great Juno's crown : 
blessed bond of board and bed ! 

'Tis Hymen peoples every town ; 

High, wedlock then be honored: 150 

Honor, high, honor, and renown, 

To Hymen, god of every town ! 

Duke S. my dear niece, welcome thou art to me ! 
Even daughter, welcome, in no less degree. 

Phe. I will not eat my word, now thou art mine j 
Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine. 

Enter Jaques de Boys 

Jaq. de B. Let me have audience for a word or two: 
I am the second son of old Sir Rowland, 
That bring these tidings to this fair assembly. 
Duke Frederick, hearing how that every day 160 

Men of great worth resorted to this forest, 
Addressed a mighty power ; which were on foot, 
In his own conduct, purposely to take 
His brother here and put him to the sword : . 
And to the skirts of this wild wood he came ; 
Where meeting with an old religious man, 
After some question with him, was converted 



Act V. Sc. iv.] AS YOU LIKE IT 119 

Both from his enterprise and from the world ; 

His crown bequeathing to his banished brother, 

And all their lands restored to them again 170 

That were with him exiled. This to be true, 

I do engage my life. 

Duke S. Welcome, young man ; 

Thou offer' st fairly to thy brothers' wedding : 
To one his lands withheld ; and to the other 
A land itself at large, a potent dukedom. 
First, in this forest let us do those ends 
That here were well begun and well begot : 
And after, every of this happy number, 
That have endured shrewd days and nights with us, 
Shall share the good of our returned fortune, 180 

According to the measure of their states. 
Meantime, forget this new-fallen dignity, 
And fall into our rustic revelry. 
Play, music ! And you, brides and bridegrooms all, 
With measure heaped in joy, to the measures fall. 

Jaq. Sir, by your patience. If I heard you rightly, 
The Duke hath put on a religious life 
And thrown into neglect the pompous court ? 

Jaq. de B. He hath. 

Jaq. To him will I : out of these convertites 190 
There is much matter to be heard and learned. 



120 AS YOU LIKE IT [Act V. Sc. iv. 

[ To Duke S. ] You to your former honor 1 bequeath ; 
Your patience and your virtue well deserves it : 

[To Orl.] You to a love, that your true faith doth 

merit : 
[To Oli.] You to your land, and love, and great 

allies : 
[To Sil.] You to a long and well-deserved bed : 
[To Touch.] And you to wrangling ; for thy loving 
voyage 
Is but for two months victualled. So, to your pleas- 
ures : ° 
I am for other than for dancing measures. 

Duke S. Stay, Jaques, stay. 200 

Jaq. To see no pastime I : what you would have 
I'll stay to know at your abandoned cave. [Exit. 

Duke S. Proceed, proceed : we will begin these rites, 
As we do trust they'll end, in true delights. 

[A dance. 



Epilogue] AS YOU LIKE IT 121 

EPILOGUE 

Ros. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epi- 
logue ; but it is no more unhandsome than to see the 
lord the prologue. If it be true that good wine needs 
no bush,° 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue : 
yet to good wine they do use good bushes ; and good 
plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. 
What a case am I in then, that am neither a good epi- 
logue, nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of 
a good play ! I am not furnished like a beggar, there- 
fore to beg will not become me : my way is to 10 
conjure you ; and I'll begin with the women. I charge 
you, women, for the love you bear to men, to like 
as much of this play as please you : and I charge you, 
men, for the love you bear to women, — as I per- 
ceive by your simpering, none of you hates them, — 
that between you and the women the play may please. 
If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as 
had beards that please me, complexions that liked 20 
me and breaths that I defied not : and, I am sure, as 
many as have good beards or good faces or sweet 
breaths will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, 
bid me farewell. [Exeunt. 



NOTES 



ACT I 

Scene I 

Orchard : that is, garden. See Julius Ccesar, Act II, Scene 
1, " Brutus's orchard." 

2. bequeathed : no plain syntax can be discovered for this 
word. Some editors suggest that, since the conversation begins 
abruptly, the pronoun " he " or the words " my father" should 
be supplied as subject of "bequeathed." Then the reference 
of the pronoun "his" in the fourth line would become clear. 
A comparison of the beginning of Lodge's Bosalynde may 
profitably be made at this point. In Lodge's novel the dying 
father calls his sons about him and tells what he wishes to 
bequeath to each. Is there any reason why Shakespeare's play 
should commence quite differently from Lodge's story? Why 
should not the dying father of the novel be introduced into the 
play ? poor a thousand : In A. Y. L. the student will observe 
a number of illustrations of this peculiar word order, in which 
an adjective precedes an article or a possessive pronoun. Com- 
pare " Gentle my lord," in Macbeth, III, 2, 27. 

12. manage : for convenience, the editor has gathered to- 
gether in each scene the words which should be looked up in 

123 



124 KOTES [Act I. Sc. i. 

the dictionaries. Some words not included in the lists will 
probably not be understood by all pupils without thumbing of 
the lexicons. In this section what do the following mean : 
manage, 12 ; dearly, 13 ; countenance, 19 ; hinds, 20 ; mines, 
22 ; orchard, 44 ; railed, 64 ; allottery, 76 ; fleet, 123 ; device, 
156; anatomize, 161 ; device,173; misprised, 177? 

32. make : be on the alert for plays on words, that is, for 
puns. The excessive use of puns was a failing of sixteenth 
century dramatists. Shakespeare freely toys with the meanings 
of words. Here Oliver has just asked Orlando what he makes, 
meaning what is he doing, what is he about. Orlando sees the 
chance for a pun, and remarks that he is not taught to "make" 
anything. Compare also the word "villain" in lines 58 and 
59. " Villain " sometimes meant ruffian and sometimes rustic, 
countryman, person of low birth. 

38. be naught : an expression of impatient contempt, equiv- 
alent to "Go to." One of the editors interprets the words to 
mean "Be content to be a cipher." Another says that the 
expression is a North-country provincial curse, meaning "a 
mischief on you." The words " a while," Warburton thinks, 
have no perceptible influence on the exclamation. Capell 
renders the idea of "Be naught to you" by the phrase "Be 
hanged to you." Compare III, 2, 15. 

41. prodigal portion : where elsewhere in your reading 
have you learned about a prodigal, who fed on husks among 
swine ? 

46. than him : the grammatical peculiarities of A. T. L. will 
require frequent reference to Abbott's A Shakespearian Gram- 
mar or to Franz's Shakespeare- Grammatik. If you find it 



Act I. Sc. i.] NOTES 125 

impossible to parse some of Shakespeare's pronouns according 
to recent grammars of English, do not be surprised. Try to 
account for the various forms, and if you are puzzled consult 
Abbott or Franz. 

54. his reverence : is this to be taken as a suggestion that 
Orlando's father was a priest, or minister, or preacher ? 

57. too young in this : in what ? Furness thinks that the 
action here is so distinctly set forth that stage directions are 
wholly superfluous,, if not intrusive. 

58. lay hands : does Orlando lay hands on Oliver ? If you 
have seen the play staged, you can, of course, easily answer the 
question ; but even if you have not, you can tell from the lines 
themselves how the actors who take the parts of Oliver and 
Orlando would conduct themselves. In Bosalynde, the young- 
est brother, instead of laying hands on the eldest, puts his men 
to flight by belaboring them with " a great rake " that he picked 
up in the garden. 

64. so : for saying what ? Translate into your own words 
the ideas that you get from this whole speech of Orlando. 

66. your father's remembrance : that is, because of your 
remembrance of your father. 

88. spoke : obviously one cannot take Shakespeare as guide 
in the use of such forms as this. Collect from the play all past 
participles and preterites that differ from present usage. 

92. thousand crowns : does Oliver anywhere in the play give 
Orlando this sum or any part of it ? Note the two negatives. 

98. 'Twill be : what will be a good way ? This is one of the 
places where the dramatist suggests much without saying it 
explicitly. What is suggested here ? 



126 ' NOTES [Act I. Sc. i. 

102. new court : by the way in which Oliver asks his ques- 
tion, we are indirectly informed that he already knows about 
the banishment of the old Duke. 

109. leave to wander : it is to be hoped that the reference of 
the pronoun "whose" is understood here. If it is, then the 
reason why the new Duke was glad to let these lords go with 
the banished Duke is obvious. 

115. to stay : we should express the idea here by the phrase 
" at being obliged to stay." Shakespeare's use of infinitives, 
like his use of words, requires close study. See list of composi- 
tion subjects, p. lv. 

120. forest of Arden : in line 148, Orlando is referred to by 
Oliver as the " stubbornest young fellow of France." Natu- 
rally, then, the student jumps to the conclusion that the forest 
of Arden is in France. Yet Shakespeare as a boy was perfectly 
familiar with the region in England called Arden, so-that it is 
just as likely that the forest of Arden referred to here is in 
England as in France. The thing for the pupil to do is to make 
up his mind once for all whether it makes the least bit of dif- 
ference where the forest was. After this has been settled, it 
will be good mental gymnastics to get together all the argu- 
ments for and against an English or a French location for the 
forest. 

121. a many merry men : what idea comes to you from the 
words "merry men" ? 

122. Robin Hood : who represents Robin Hood in Ivanhoe ? 
Dr. Furness cites this A. Y. L. reference to Robin Hood as an 
almost certain indication that Shakespeare intended his audience 
to feel that the forest life of the play is English forest life, no 



Act I. Sc. i.] NOTES 127 

matter where actual forests of Arden might be found. In fact, 
so impressed with this view is the genial Dr. Furness, that he 
devotes a charming paragraph of his Variorum preface to the 
thoroughly English tone of the play. Here is an extract : " It is 
through and through an English comedy, on English soil, in 
English air, beneath English oaks ; and it will be loved and 
admired, cherished and appreciated, by Englishmen as long as 
an English word is uttered by an English tongue. Nowhere else 
on the habitable globe could its scene have been laid but in 
England, nowhere else but in Sherwood Forest has the golden 
age, in popular belief, revisited the earth, and there alone of all 
the earth a merry band could, and did, fleet the time carelessly. 
England is the home of As You Like It, with all its visions 
of the Forest of Arden and heavenly Rosalind." 

126. What: this word merely turns the thought to a new 
topic ; it is about equivalent to "by the way." 

135. for your love : collect from the play other examples of 
this same use of what seems to be a possessive pronoun modify- 
ing a noun, where we should use a pronoun object of a preposi- 
tion. Compare 1. 66. 

166. alone : if he did not go " alone," how would he go ? 

173. never schooled : Saladyne, the eldest son of Sir John, 
meditates thus in Bosalynde : " Let him [Rosader] know little, 
so shall he not be able to execute much, suppress his wittes 
with a base estate, and though he bee a Gentleman by nature, 
yet form him anew, and make him a peasant by nurture : so 
shalt thou keepe him as a slave, and raign thy selfe sole Lord 
over all thy fathers possessions," 



128 NOTES [Act I. Sc. ii. 



Scene II 

1. coz : look up this word, and also the following : wit, 48, 
58; taxation, 91 ; amaze, 115; misprised, 192 (cf. I, 1, 177) ; 
deceived, 209 ; mightily, 218 ; still, 239 ; suits, 257 ; humor- 
ous, 278. 

5. learn: what does the use of "teach" in the preceding 
line, compared with the use of "learn" here, indicate with 
regard to the meaning of the words "teach" and "learn" in 
Shakespeare's time ? 

18. I : would this be considered grammatically correct now ? 

22. in affection : this phrase balances what single word in 
the preceding line ? 

27. falling in love : Rosalind's playful suggestion is of inter- 
est when the later development of the plot is considered. 

38. blind woman : who was this " bountiful blind woman " ? 
Search your dictionaries of mythology or consult your Latin 
and Greek teacher regarding the classical allusion. Compare 
II, 7, 16. 

42. ill-favoredly : can this be justified as correct grammar ? 
Compare 1. 162. 

48. fall into the fire : be careful not to miss Celia's point. 
Rosalind says that Fortune does not have to do with a person's 
features. Celia questions this statement. Is she right ? 

56. such goddesses: as for instance, Fortune, "the boun- 
tiful blind woman " of line 38. 

60. come away : when the latter part of the scene is com- 
pared with this passage does it seem likely that Celia's father 
in reality sent Touchstone with a message requesting the pres- 



Act I. Sc. ii.] NOTES 129 

ence of Celia and Rosalind ? Duke F. speaks in line 164, with 
apparent surprise, of their having " crept " to see the wrest- 
ling. 

63. by mine honor : Celia in line 22 used the same expres- 
sion. Why does this increase the humor of the use of the same 
words here ? 

87. old Frederick : see whether the name of Celia's father is 
mentioned elsewhere in the play. Is the name of Rosalind's 
father given at all ? 

102. marketable : if you have ever seen poultry prepared for 
market you can quickly see the point, even though Celia is 
talking about "pigeons " rather than poultry. 

111. decrees : grammar ? 

112. Well said : Celia's remark implies that Touchstone has 
been particularly nattering to Le Beau in adding the words 
"Or as the Destinies decrees" to Rosalind's remark, "As wit 
and fortune will." How was his addition in the nature of a 
compliment to Le Beau ? 

113. rank: observe the pun. In what sense does Touch- 
stone use "rank" ? The sense to which Rosalind perverts the 
word in order to make a pun at Touchstone's expense is obvious. 

124. There comes: merely the expletive "there," not the 
locative. "Comes" is in the historical present, so that the 
passage means "An old man and his three sons came." This 
interpretation is made plain by " Yonder they lie," in line 137. 
Compare V, 2, 82. For the plural form "comes" instead of 
" come," see Abbott, § 335, which treats of the inflection in -s 
preceding a plural subject. Abbott explains, though somewhat 
clumsily, that when the verb precedes the subject, that is, 



130 NOTES [Act I. Sc. ii. 

when the subject is as yet unsettled, the third person singular 
may be regarded as the normal inflection, e.g.,, — 

" There is more such masters." — Cymbeline, TV, 2, 371. 

131. bills on their necks : this passage completely baffles 
most high school pupils. What connection is there between 
Rosalind's remark and the speech of Le Beau immediately pre- 
ceding ? Bear in mind that Rosalind adopts the playful tone 
all along here, while Le Beau is intensely serious. Look, then, 
for a pun on Rosalind's part or for a bit of mock seriousness. 
Le Beau's sober statement of fact, "Three young men of excel- 
lent growth and presence," perhaps suggests to Rosalind the 
notion of a sale in which all the objects are carefully labelled, 
with their merits fully stated, in order that by these presents — 
a pun on Le Beau's word presence — "all men" might learn 
and be ready to buy. The word "bill" in this sense means 
label, or advertisement, or inscription running in legal form. 
In Macbeth, III, 1, 99, the word seems to be about equivalent 
to catalogue. "Bill," however, was frequently used, in a 
quite different sense, as the name of a kind of weapon. In 
Ivanhoe, for instance, one of the characters says disparagingly 
of the hero, "He is fitter to do the juggling tricks of the Nor- 
man chivalry than to maintain the fame and honor of his Eng- 
lish ancestry with the glaive and brown-bill, the good old 
weapons of the country." See also Chapter 32, "The tramp 
of horses was now heard, and the Lady Rowena appeared, sur- 
rounded by several riders, and a much stronger party of foot- 
men, who joyfully shook their pikes and clashed their brown- 
bills for joy of her freedom." That such "bills" might be 



Act I. Sc. ii.] NOTES 131 

carried on the neck is evident from a number of passages in 
Lodge's Bosalynde, such as, " He came pacing towards them, 
with his Forrest bill on his neck." " Saladyne heaved up a 
Forrest bill he had on his neck, and the first he struck had 
never after more need of a Phisition." "Taking his Forrest 
bill on his neck, hee trudgeth in all haste towards the plaines, 
where Alienaes flockes did feede." Rosalind is evidently play- 
ing on the two uses of the word "bill," and on the two words 
which sound alike — " presence " and " presents." 

Still, though this explanation seems to make the passage 
fairly intelligible, it is only the part of modesty to record what 
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Furness have said about these much- 
discussed lines. Dr. Johnson wrote this sentence, "Where 
meaning is so very thin as in this vein of jocularity it is hard to 
catch, and therefore I know not well what to determine." Dr. 
Furness, besides this comment of the puzzled old Johnson, cites 
conjectures and emendations of half a dozen later editors, and 
then is forced to confess that with Dr. Johnson he ' ' knows not 
well what to determine." 

141. Alas : Furness cites the following note from another 
commentator, "It is often by such apparently slight touches 
as these that Shakespeare depicts the moral perfection of his 
characters and gives them their crowning charm." How does 
Rosalind show any " moral perfection " or " crowning charm " 
by this particular exclamation ? 

149. any else : note the variation from present idiom. Com- 
pare "every," V, 4, 178. 

150. broken music : Murray's Dictionary shows what " broken 
music " means, but does not explain the application to this 



132 NOTES [Act I Sc. ii. 

passage. "Broken music" was "part" music, "concerted," 
"arranged for different instruments." Instruments in those 
times were " made in sets of four which when played together 
formed a consort." If one or more instruments of one set were 
substituted for instruments of another set, the resulting music 
was called, not a consort, hut broken music. It has been sug- 
gested that the parting or breaking of ribs seemed to Rosalind's 
whimsical mind like the kind of music called technically " part " 
or "broken" music. 

169. odds in the man : that is, in favor of the man. " Man " 
refers evidently to the wrestler Charles. Because of the 
"youth" of the challenger, Orlando, the Duke tried to dis- 
suade him from the contest. This is a difficult scene to stage 
well, since Orlando is represented as a rather slight, but wiry 
young man, wrestling with an older man of much greater bulk 
and bigger muscles. The thing to do is to make the spectator 
think it plausible for the slight man to down the bulky man. 

177. them : though Le Beau announced to Orlando that only 
the princess, i.e. Celia, called for him, Orlando probably noticed 
both the young ladies, and consequently he answered that he 
attended them with all respect and duty. He seems to have 
taken particular notice of Rosalind at his first glance ; compare 
line 272. 

180. general challenger : compare Ivanhoe, where the five 
knights challengers meet all comers. 

197. so fair and excellent : does the courteous, even courtly, 
tone of Orlando seem surprising in one brought up as he says 
he was brought up ? Observe the careful, balanced structure 
of, "I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to lament 



Act I. Sc. it] NOTES 133 

me," and " the world no injury, for in it I have nothing." The 
apparent inconsistency between Orlando's manner of talking 
and his statements about his education can be accounted for in 
what way ? 

222. Hercules : the general meaning here is obvious enough : 
Eosalind wishes him success. What has "Hercules" to do 
with the matter? 

225. excellent young man : compare the same words in the 
mouth of Shylock, Merchant of Venice, IV, 1, 238. Notice 
that Rosalind is much more contained in her exclamations of 
interest and sympathy than Celia. Why ? Again, in line 260, 
Celia calls Orlando "fair gentleman," whereas Rosalind ad- 
dresses him merely as "gentleman." 

242. fare thee well: note "Fare you well," lines 260, 268, 
295, 298, and V, 2, 130. Why the difference in pronouns? Com- 
pare the college song, " Fare thee well, for I must leave thee." 

249. known : the idea is that Rosalind had not before known 
Orlando to be the son of Sir Rowland. 

259. could give more : what would be our word instead of 
" could " ? In Lodge's story Rosalynde gives Rosader (Orlando) 
a jewel which she takes from her neck. Rosader, having no 
jewels to give in return, steps into a tent, takes pen and paper, 
and writes a ten-line poem, of which one line is : — 

" Pure lockes more golden than is golcle refinde." 

This poem he gives to Rosalynde. Try to construct a poem of 
ten lines which you think would suitably express Orlando's 
feelings on this occasion. Possibly you might include among 
your ten lines the line quoted above from Lodge. 



134 NOTES [Act I. Sc. iii. 

268. Have with you : Mr. Rolfe calls this a common idiom, 
meaning, " I'll go with you." 

277. misconstrues : scan the line and observe the necessary 
pronunciation. In the production of this play, the actor is care- 
ful to give the Shakespearian pronunciation of "misconstrues." 

279. than I : comment on the grammar. 

284. the taller : consistent with other passages ? 

290. gentle : be on your guard when you see the word 
"gentle" in Shakespeare ; it often has a meaning different 
from its usual present sense. When you speak of a person of 
gentle birth, you are using the word in the frequent Shake- 
spearian sense. Compare II, 3, 6 ; II, 4, 70 ; and II, 7, 101. 

296. better world : caution — "Better world " does not neces- 
sarily imply heaven. What does the expression mean here ? 

299. must I: the infinitive is omitted, as frequently in the 
play elsewhere. Compare line 227. What word might be sup- 
plied after "must" and "should" in these passages? 

Scene III 

2. not a word : by this banter on Celia's part the playwright 
lets us see vividly the state of Rosalind's feelings. A long 
explanation would be out of place in the drama. Celia's com- 
ments and question exactly suit Shakespeare's purpose of arous- 
ing the query in the mind of the spectator, why is Rosalind 
downcast ? Compare the abrupt opening of Act III, Scene 4. 

7. were : note the accurate use of the subjunctive. 

19. cry hem and have him : if you will say this to yourself 
rapidly, you will observe Rosalind's pun. 

25. in despite of : compare II, 5, 49. jests : the way in 



Act I. Sc. iii.] NOTES 135 

which Rosalind throws off her depression and holds her own 
in this bout of wit brings out plainly one phase of her char- 
acter. 

28. strong a liking : now the reader has the point of Celia's 
remark in her first speech of the scene, " Cupid, have mercy ! " 
Who was Cupid ? 

38. deserve well : deserve what well ? 

48. bear with me: observe Rosalind's quiet submission to 
the sudden demand of her uncle. By saying, "Let me carry 
with me the knowledge of why I must go," she shows that she 
is willing to submit to the Duke's demand, even though she 
cannot understand the reason for it. The sympathy of the 
reader, therefore, at once goes out to Rosalind. In Lodge's 
story the usurping king (Torismond) gives as his reason for 
banishing Rosalynde, that she has been making "aspiring 
speeches" and has been "intending treasons." As a matter 
of fact, however, the king is fearful lest Rosalynde may marry 
some rich peer, who will then strive to gain the kingdom from 
him. Alinda (Celia) pleads earnestly for Rosalynde, and so 
enrages her father that he banishes both girls that very 
day. 

51. frantic: see dictionary, and also look up purgation, 55 ; 
likelihood, 59 ; remorse, 72 ; still, 75 ; doom, 85 ; suit, 118 ; 
curtle-axe, 119 ; woo, 135. 

73. too young : is this consistent with line 104 of the first 
scene of this act ? Several inconsistencies in the play may be 
ferreted out by the keen student. Such watchful observation 
of inconsistencies is to be encouraged. Yet do not conclude 
necessarily that the play is essentially weak in construction 



136 NOTES [Act II. Sc. i. 

because of a few slips due to haste in composition. The play 
on the whole is admirably put together. 

77. Juno's swans : can you find in the classical dictionaries 
any reference to swans of Juno ? Ask your teacher of Latin 
and Greek about the matter. 

89. You are a fool : from the whole tone of this scene do 
you conclude that this outburst of the Duke's is unusual, or 
are you rather impressed with the thought that it is probably 
but one of many such incivilities on the part of the Duke to 
his daughter? What light does this throw on the Duke's 
character ? 

91. greatness of my word : the Duke appears to take himself 
and his power too seriously. He even verges on the mock 
heroic at times. 

99. am : account for the singular number of the verb. 

109. forest of Arden : Celia is the one who proposes the 
flight to the forest. But who suggests the way for carrying out 
her plan ? 

130. Aliena : how has the name which she is to assume any 
" reference to her state " ? See Latin dictionary, under alienus. 

140. liberty : see note above on " You are a fool." 

ACT II 

Scene I 

5. penalty of Adam : what was the penalty of the first man, 
and why was it inflicted ? 

6. icy fang : what is gained by referring to the wind as hav- 
ing an "icy fang" ? The language is obviously figurative. Is 



Act II. Sc. i.] NOTES 137 

the figurative statement more effective than a simple, literal 
statement would be ? Observe that, by the language in this 
speech and in the third speech of the scene, one is made to feel 
plainly the tranquil, pastoral calm of the banished Duke's life. 

8. Which : if you were studying grammar, you would surely 
be asked to parse " Which." Could you do it ? 

10. counsellors : who are the " counsellors " ? 

14. precious jewel : of course a toad does not have a real 
jewel in its head. Yet, by a tradition going back as far as 
Pliny's time, toads were thought to have stones in their fore- 
heads. If adversity, like the mythical toad, bears a precious 
jewel with it, what must the jewel be ? Commit to memory 
this passage, lines 1-17. 

82. brawls : observe what vigor is gained by the use of this 
specific verb. What other examples are there of particularly 
specific language in this scene ? 

38. big round tears: this passage always appeals to some 
pupils as being really pathetic. Does it so affect you ? 

41. melancholy Jaques : it would be impossible to find a 
better adjective to characterize Jaques. Compare line 26, and 
also IV, 1, 3. 

45. similes : bring the scene vividly before your mind, and 
try to imagine other similes that would be appropriate. By ex- 
ercises of this kind one may be led to appreciate more clearly 
the skill and inventive power of the dramatist. 

53. pasture : see dictionary, and look up also "cope," line 
67. 

62. kill them up : " up " appears to have the force of com- 
pleteness, as in familiar expressions like, " The city bought up 



138 NOTES [Act II. Sc. ii. 

the property round the school for a playground." The word 
"up" is sometimes used, however, even at the present day, 
without any special significance. See Dialect Notes, Vol. II, 
Part III, p. 143 : " meet up. ' He met up with him in New 
Orleans.' " 

63. native dwelling-place : observe that Jaques and the 
Duke had the same idea about the priority of rights of the deer. 
See the Duke's remark, " Being native burghers of this desert 
city," line 23. In one of Rosader's speeches in the courting 
eclogue of Bosalynde, the sheep are called " Cittizens of Field," 
and in a sonnet of Montanus the " Cittizens of Wood " are said 
to be standing in wonder about a turtle that sat mourning upon 
a " leaveless tree." 

Scene II 

1. them : the method of plunging into the midst of things 
is well illustrated by the opening of this scene. The play-goer 
or the reader is flattered to feel that he knows at once to whom 
" them " must refer. 

6. in the morning : from this the conjecture has been made 
that the flight was not reported to the Duke on the day of its 
occurrence, but at least one day later. How does the phrase 
" in the morning " seem to bear out this conjecture ? 

8. roynish clown: see dictionary. Look up also "gentle- 
woman," line 10. 

10. princess: is the daughter of a duke now called "prin- 
cess" ? 

17. that gallant : from the rest of the passage, can you make 
out to whom " gallant " refers ? The pronouns are evidently 



Act II. Sc. iii.] NOTES 139 

confused along here. Try to straighten out the references. 
Put lines 17-19 into prose of your own composition. 

19. suddenly : look out for the Shakespearian twist on words 
like this. "Suddenly" here means "at once," "right off," 
"quickly." 

21. foolish runaways : the adjective " foolish " seems to 
imply that though the Duke is somewhat worried, he feels rea- 
sonably confident that his daughter will soon be back in his 
court again. The king in Lodge's novel is, on the other hand, 
a more hardened villain. He has banished his daughter with 
harshness, and appears not to bother himself more about her. 

Scene III 

4. what make you : recall the pun made on these words in 
a preceding scene. After the wrestling, in Bosalynde, Rosader 
(Orlando) lived in peace with his brother, Saladyne (Oliver) till 
Saladyne conspired to make people think Rosader a lunatic. 
Adam helped Rosader to escape from his chains, saying to him, 
" When J give you a wincke, shake off your chaines, and let us 
plaie the men, and make havocke amongst them, drive them 
out of the house and maintaine possession by force of armes, 
till the King hath made a redresse of your abuses." Rosader 
did as advised, and drove Saladyne's men out of the house. 
" Seeing the coast cleare, he shut the doores, and being sore an 
hungred, and seeing such good victuals, he sat him doune with 
Adam Spencer, and such good fellowes as he knew were honest 
men, and there feasted themselves with such provision as Sala- 
dyne had provided for his friendes." The A. T. L. plot omits 
this part of the story entirely. 



140 NOTES [Act II. Sc. iii. 

5. people love you : the character of Orlando is brought out 
by what Adam personally says about him, and by what the old 
servant reports that the people in general felt toward him. 
These two methods of presenting character will be found useful 
in composition work. See p. liv of the Introduction. 

7. fond : evidently the ordinary sense of this word will not 
fit in this place. By consulting the dictionary, the student can 
find another meaning that will exactly suit the passage. Look 
up also : priser and humorous, 8 ; use, 23 ; practices, 26 ; 
butchery, 27 ; caters, 44. 

9. Your : again the possessive form for our modern objective 
of you. The idea might be rendered thus : " the praise which 
others bestowed on you." Compare I, 1, 6Q, and 135. 

12. No more do yours : Gollancz in the Temple Shakespeare 
says that this is a somewhat loose construction, but one easily 
understood. Nevertheless, it always puzzles the young student 
and has tempted all the editors to explanations. The trouble is 
that there has been since the dramatist's day a change in the 
use of negatives. We are more accurate in this respect than 
the Elizabethan writers. Where, in order to strengthen a nega- 
tion, they used two or sometimes even three or four negative 
words like not, we use one or none. Where sometimes they 
merely implied a negative, we state the idea exactly. In this 
particular passage, as Rolfe explains, a negative is implied. 
Adam says, in effect, to his master : " Don't you know that the 
merits of some men serve them as nothing else than enemies ? 
Yours similarly serve you as nothing else than enemies ; they 
are traitors to you." In what respect were Orlando's virtues 
and accomplishments "traitors " to 'him ? 



Act II. Sc. iv.] NOTES . 141 

23. burn the lodging : is this an implication that Orlando 
was not allowed to sleep in the same house with Oliver ? 

37. diverted blood : doubtless the word play in this line will 
not escape your attention. 

57. antique : where before in A. Y. L. has the same word 
occurred ? 

65. In lieu of : that is, " in return for." 

67. youthful wages : how could Adam's money be spoken 
of as "youthful wages," when he was nearly eighty years old ? 

74. a week : plainly this is not to be taken in its usual literal 
significance of seven days. What does "week" mean in this 
line? 

Scene IV 

3. weary: nowhere is the artistic effect of the presence of 
Touchstone in the play more apparent than here, where by his 
sprightly air he helps to cheer up Rosalind-Ganymede and rouse 
her from the depression that evidently overwhelms her as the 
scene opens, 

12. bear no cross : many coins of Shakespeare's time were 
marked with a cross. There is, in fact, a similar allusion in a 
story written over a century later. Chapter 21 of The Vicar 
of Wakefield, written in 1766, contains the sentence, " ' I 
know that she has been here a fortnight, and we have not yet 
seen the cross of her money.' " Thus Touchstone's pun on the 
two senses of the word "cross" becomes intelligible. Do not 
take Touchstone too seriously. If you remember that Rosalind 
and Celia were going to carry off money and jewels with them 
to the forest, and if you have not seen any mention yet of their 



142 NOTES [Act II. Sc. iv. 

spending this money, do not immediately conjecture that be- 
cause Touchstone refers to a lack of money in Celia's purse 
they must have spent or lost their treasure. Later they buy a 
cottage and pasture. Touchstone must have his joke, you see, 
regardless of facts. It is a general tendency of witty persons 
even now to disregard facts in order to make an effective witty 
speech or pun. 

16. in Arden : some commentators and actors profess to see 
a pun here. They say that probably Touchstone slurred the r 
in Arden, and pronounced the words "in Arden" as if they 
were in a den. What do you think of this suggestion ? 

19. be so : Rosalind, wishing to stop Touchstone's cheerful 
banter, tells him to be "content," perhaps meaning by this 
expression about what might be expressed by " Well, Touch- 
stone, that's enough for this time. Let's change the subject." 

20. who comes here : the arbor in which Rosalynde and 
Alinda (Celia) discover two shepherds talking — one old and 
the other a young swain — is described by Lodge as follows, 
" Round about in the form of an amphitheater were most curi- 
ously planted Pine trees, interseamed with Lymons and Cytrons, 
which with the thickness of their boughes so shadowed the 
place that Phoebus [the sun] could not prie into the secret of 
that Arbour. ' ' 

29. As sure : note that this line is merely parenthetical. 

38. Wearying thy hearer : the Temple text here follows the 
First Folio in printing Wearing, which means the same thing 
as " Wearying." 

47. him : study the reference of pronouns in this speech. 
The humor consists largely in Touchstone's saying that he 



Act II. Sc. iv.] NOTES 143 

addressed the stone and the peascod as if they were persons. 
On the stage the word "peascod" of this passage is pronounced 
pes-cod. 

69. Peace : by this word Rosalind expresses slight impatience 
at Touchstone's lofty tone and at Corin's perhaps unintentional 
pun when he answered Touchstone's word "betters" in a dif- 
ferent sense from that which was in the mind of Touchstone 
when he used the word. 

70. gentle : compare I, 2, 290. 

79. graze : see dictionary. Also learn the meaning of mend, 
94, and feeder, 99. 

81. way to heaven : Wordsworth, quoted by Furness, " can- 
not help thinking" that Shakespeare had in mind when he 
wrote this passage the idea in Matthew xxv. 43, "I was a 
stranger and ye took me not in." Compare also 1 Peter iv. 9 ; 
Hebrews xiii. 2 ; and Romans xii. 13. Could Shakespeare have 
seen the Authorized Version of the Bible before he wrote 
A. Y. L. ? 

88. What: that is, "what sort of person?" See § 254 of 
Abbott, " In the Elizabethan and earlier periods, when the 
distinction between ranks was much more marked than now, it 
may have seemed natural to ask, as the first question about 
any one, 'Of what condition or rank is he?'" This is the 
function of the word ivhat in line 88. 

91. honesty : Rosalind thought that perhaps the young shep- 
herd had already clinched the bargain, and she would not 
transgress the bounds of scrupulous honesty, even though she 
herself would like to buy the property. Compare V, 4, 62, where 
"honesty" has a different meaning. The account of the pur- 



144 NOTES [Act II. Sc. v. 

chase is thus given in Rosalynde, " Aliena resolved there to set 
up her rest, and by the helpe of Coridon swapt a bargaine ivith 
his Landslord, and so became mistres of the farme and the 
flocke : herselfe putting on the attyre of the shepherdesse, and 
Ganymede of a young swaine : everye day leading foorth her 
flockes, with such delight, that she held her exile happy, and 
thoght no content to the blisse of a Countrey cottage." Ex- 
amine this quotation, not only to see how the details about the 
purchase differ in the two narratives, but especially to observe 
how the language of Rosalynde varies from present English in 
form of words and in sentence structure. 

Scene V 

9. melancholy : compare note on II, 1, 41. 

19. stanzos : properly a stanzo is a group of eight verses or 
lines. In the First Folio edition the song is printed in only 
seven verses, the words " Here shall he see no enemy" being 
one line. Pope changed to an eight-line stanza, as printed here. 
What is the meaning of the word "stanza" at the present time? 
What word is often used where "stanza" should properly be 
employed ? 

21. owe : the connection of thought between Jaques's state- 
ment that he does not care for the names of these bits of song, 
whether they are stanzos or not, and his further statement that 
the names owe him nothing is puzzling. To understand the 
passage one must know something of Shakespearian use of 
words. Names here, as Dr. Furness points out, stands for the 
Latin nomina, plural of nomen. The word nomina was some- 
times used in Shakespeare's time as a law term meaning the 



Act II. Sc. v.] NOTES 145 

names of debts that were owed, the different items of debt in 
an account book. This is evidently the sense of the word on 
which Jaques plays in his attempt at a pun. To us the pun 
seems far-fetched. In the early seventeenth century, however, 
Jaques's point would be obvious to the audience. 

26. that they call: supply "which" after "that" and the 
sense of the line will become more apparent. Paraphrased, the 
lines might read : " But that which people call compliment 
is like the meeting between two dog-faced baboons. When a 
man thanks me heartily, I feel as if I had given him a penny 
and he had returned thanks to me just like a beggar." Still, it 
is difficult to understand in what sense the making of a compli- 
ment by one man to another is much like the meeting between 
two monkeys. Did Jaques intend to remark, sententiously, 
that the buffoonery of a couple of jabbering apes is like the 
chattering of two men paying each other compliments ? 

31. Sirs : to whom this is addressed may be gathered from 
the context ; see the stage direction at the beginning of the scene. 
cover : used in a peculiar sense. Consult Century Dictionary, 
under the verb "cover," II, 2 : "To lay a table for a meal; 
prepare a banquet." 

33. to look you : not idiomatic now. How should we express 
the same idea ? 

42. eats : study the rhymes in the three songs of this scene, 
and then try to explain what seems a variation from the plan 
in lines 42 and 43. Could "eats" and "gets" possibly have 
rhymed in Shakespeare's period ? 

48. note: used in a broad sense, equivalent to "music," 
"tune." 



146 NOTES [Act II. Sc. v. 

49. in despite of: compare I, 3, 25, where the words mean 
"notwithstanding." Are they used in the same sense here? 
One of the editors paraphrases, " As imagination would do 
nothing for me, I spited it by the following choice composition." 

60. ducdame : Furness has three pages of explanation. 
Rolfe dismisses the matter by saying that probably ducdame is 
mere nonsense, coined for the occasion. Some editors change 
the text to ducadme, which they think is Latin, meaning "bring 
him to me." 

63. first-born of Egypt : commentators appear to be baffled 
by this allusion. Why Jaques wished to rail against the first- 
born of Egypt if he could not go to sleep is perplexing. Words- 
worth's explanation is clear-cut, if not convincing. He says 
that Jaques is referring to the old Duke, who was an eldest 
son. His fortune was not favorable and Jaques had shared 
banishment with him, thus forfeiting his property. Jaques 
felt that he might well rail at the Duke whenever his mood 
called for railing at any one or anything. This explanation 
dodges "all the first-born" and "of Egypt." Perhaps the 
latter is an allusion to Exodus xi. 5. Possibly the whole ex- 
pression is only a strained way of saying betters, superiors. 
The fact that Jaques has given the editors innumerable hours 
of diligent research over such allusions as this, throws consid- 
erable light on his character. In what way ? 

64. banquet : the word now means dinner, meal, usually ac- 
companied by speech-making. In the early seventeenth cen- 
tury "banquet" sometimes meant dinner, and sometimes only 
the dessert. By comparison with II, 7, 98 and 127, and with 
a large dictionary like Murray's or the Century, determine the 
meaning here. 



Act II. Sc. vii.] NOTES 147 



Scene VI 

6. uncouth : see dictionary for special meaning to fit this 
context. Also look up conceit, line 8, which is not used in its 
common significance, and desert, line 18. Would you call a 
place where trees grow abundantly a desert ? The word is 
spelled desart in Lodge, p. 86 of the Hazlitt reprint. It there 
refers to the part of the forest of Arden in which Saladyne fell 
asleep when he had been hoping to push on toward Lyons and 
so to "travel through Germany into Italic" 

17. cheerly : this word, used also a few lines above and sug- 
gested in the fifth line by "cheer thyself a little," gives the 
predominant note of Orlando's speech. Observe the effect of 
the speech upon Adam. The scene when well presented on 
the stage is remarkably good. What does Adam do and what 
do you imagine he looks like '? If you have not seen the play, 
try to describe as vividly as you can the picture in your mind 
as you read the words of the dramatist. 

Scene VII 

1. he: notice what is gained by this abrupt introduction of 
the pronoun. This is another neat illustration of the dramatist's 
skill in arousing expectation. The reader naturally wonders 
who "he" is, and is impatient to find out. How long does 
Shakespeare maintain the suspense ? be : why subjunctive ? 

2. no where : observe that the two words are not run into 
one, as is common in writing nowhere at present. In the Tem- 
ple Shakespeare, the compounds everywhere, anything, and 
everything are similarly printed each as two words. 



148 NOTES [Act II. Sc. vii. 

4. merry : is this consistent with the previous characteriza- 
tion of Jaques as melancholy ? See also below, line 11, 
"merrily." 

5. compact of jars : that is, " made up, composed, compacted 
of discords." The Duke's fondness for striking statements is 
seen plainly in this speech, as in his first speech of the scene. 

' 16. Lady Fortune : compare I, 2, 38. 

19. fortune : suggested by the old proverb, Fortuna favet fatuis 
= Fortune favors fools. 

20. dial: see dictionary for this word and also "poke." 
Compare Ganymede's remark to Rosader in Lodge, p. 81, 
"The Sunne and our stomackes are Shepheards dials." In 
Knight's Pictorial Edition of Shakespeare there is a picture of a 
"dial," p. 223 of Vol. II. 

34. A worthy fool : does the article " A "seem out of place 
here ? What might be put in its place to correspond with the 
preceding exclamation? Two lines below, instead of "0" 
what might be written to clear the passage of ambiguity? 
Certainly Jaques did not intend to call the Duke a fool. Yet is 
it not possible to make sense out of the passage just as it stands, 
without tinkering with the Temple reading ? 

39. remainder : meaning ? 

43. motley : compare lines 13, 34, and 58 ; and III, 3, 79. 

44. suit : what is the pun ? 

56. anatomized: compare I, 1, 162. 

63. a counter: compare Julius Ccesar, IV, 3, 80, "such 
rascal counters." In Knight's Pictorial Edition there are two 
pictures of counters, Vol. II, p. 223. Counters are small thin 
coins, usually of copper or brass, but occasionally of silver. In 



Act II. Sc. vii.] NOTES 149 

abbeys and other places where the revenues were complex and 
of difficult adjustment, counters were used in making the neces- 
sary calculations. 

68. hast : has, which is the form in the Temple Shakespeare, 
is evidently a misprint. 

71. tax: compare I, 2, 91 and II, 7, 86. 

73. weary very: Rolfe emends thus, "The wearer's very 
means." Halliwell retains the folio text and explains as fol- 
lows, " The meaning is, does not pride flow as stupendously as 
the sea, until that its very means, being weary or exhausted, do 
ebb ?" Furness adopts this reading because none of the pro- 
posed emendations is quite satisfactory. 

96. inland bred : how does this come to mean cultured ? 
Compare the same word "inland," III, 2, 363. See dictionary. 
Look up, beside, the following words : nurture, 97 ; waste, 134 ; 
effigies, 193 ; and limned, 194. 

98. fruit: compare line 127, where the word food is used. 
On the stage nothing but fruit is served on the tables to the 
Duke's party. Furness makes this comment on the line: "It 
seems superfluous, if not worse, to call attention to Shakespeare's 
accuracy even in the most trivial details. Meat or food would 
have suited the rhythm here, but ' fruit ' recalls the ' banquet ' 
which was now before the Duke. Of course, a little further on, 
when Orlando says he dies for ' food,' he had to use that word 
then ; it would have been laughable to say he died for fruit." 

101. gentleness: equivalent to "good birth" in this line, 
whereas two lines below it has its usual present meaning. 
Compare the note on line 96, above, and I, 2, 290- 

107. savage : you recall that in his talk with Adam, Orlando 



150 NOTES [Act II. Sc. vii. 

said that if he came upon anything savage in his search, either 
it must devour him or he would devour it. 

129. an old poor man: compare the speech in Lodge, 
"'Gramercy sir, but I have a feeble friend that lyes hereby 
famished almost for food, aged and therefore lesse able to 
abide the extremitie of hunger then my selfe ; and dishonour it 
were for me to taste one crumme before I made him partner of 
my fortunes : therefore I will runne and fetch him, and then I 
will gratefully accept of your proffer.' " 

132. weak evils : either, " evils causing weakness," or " evils 
caused by weakness." Compare thrifty hire, II, 8, 39 ; and 
youthful wages, II, 3, 67. 

133. Go find him out: after the interrupting of the meal by 
Rosader in the novel, Gerismond made him a "Forrester." 
In this position, "he rooted out the remembrance of his 
brother's unkindness by continuall exercise, traversing the 
groves and wilde Forrests." 

146. morning face : this whole passage, which is frequently 
quoted, should be committed to memory. 

156. modern instances : that is, trivial illustrations ; com- 
monplace sentences or proverbs which a person cites to support 
his own opinion. See dictionary for both "modern" and 
"instances." 

161. shrunk shank : repeat this aloud and determine whether 
the harshness is a blemish or a merit in the context. 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 151 

ACT III 

Scene I 

1. Not see him since : this abrupt beginning of the scene, 
indicating that only a part of the conversation is reported, is 
like the opening of what other scenes? Drawing freely on 
your inventive powers, fill out the whole conversation in dia- 
logue form. 

3. argument : that is, cause or reason. Compare I, 2, 291. 

12. think against thee : what was the exact charge brought 
by Duke Frederick against Oliver ? 

15. push him out of doors : it is interesting to compare the 
lines in Tennyson's Princess, where the stalwart ploughwomen 
expel the Prince from the college : — 

' ' Then those eight mighty daughters of the plough 
Beut their broad faces toward us and addressed 
Their motion . . . 

They pushed us, down the steps, and thro' the court, 
And with grim laughter thrust us out at gates." 

17. extent : another instance where Shakespeare has intro- 
duced a legal term. What does this one mean ? What in 
Shakespeare's life might have made him especially familiar 
with the terms used by lawyers ? 

Scene II 

This scene, by several pages the longest in the play, is 
admirable for a number of reasons. It introduces skilfully 
the two wits of the play, Touchstone and Jaques, both of 



152 NOTES [Act III. Sc. ii. 

whom get decidedly the worst of bouts with men who make no 
pretensions to intellectual cleverness — Corin and Orlando. 
The scene serves, besides, as a convenient starting-point for 
Rosalind's plan by which she promises to cure the love-sick 
Orlando. Moreover, this scene shows two young girls chattering 
away to each other as lightly and naturally as any two bright 
girls of the present day. Celia's banter of Rosalind, and Rosa- 
lind's holding back in order that she may not appear to compre- 
hend too soon who it is that Celia has seen, are remarkably 
well done. Shakespeare has nowhere shown better than in 
this happy scene his peculiar power in presenting characters 
acting as persons would naturally act in his time and in all 
times. He is supreme here in his understanding of human 
nature. 

1. my verse : what did Orlando say in his "verse" ? See 
line 03 and the following lines. 

2. thrice-crowned: diva triformis ; Luna, Diana, Hecate. 
See Century Dictionary of Names, or a classical dictionary, for 
further details. Which of these three names would be the 
huntress's name referred to in line 4 ? 

10. unexpressive she : the adjective " unexpressive " means 
not to be expressed, incapable of being described in words. 
The pronoun " she " is treated practically as if it were a noun. 
The objective case of nouns, remember, is the same as the 
nominative. Hence the form she may easily be accounted for. 
This word was not used by the dramatist with any humorous 
effect or intent. Compare "he," line 414. 

15. naught: compare I, 1, 38. 

21. humor: compare "humorous," line 278 of the second 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 153 

scene of Act I. Search for the exact meanings of the following 
words in the passages in which they occur : natural, 34 ; par- 
lous, 45 ; in respect of, 67 ; perpend, 69 ; graff, 124 ; medlar, 
125 ; virtue, 127 ; touches, 160 ; scrip, 171 ; whooping, 203 ; 
atomies, 245 ; burden, 261 ; se'nnight, 333 ; cony, 356 ; kindled, 
357 ; courtship, 364 ; taxed, 367 ; point-device, 402 ; still, 409 ; 
merely, 441. 

38. ill-roasted egg : in what respect was Corin, according to 
Touchstone, like an egg cooked all on one side ? 

45. parlous state: is there any flaw in the reasoning by 
which Touchstone reaches this conclusion ? 

62. more sounder : have you ever noticed in Shakespeare 
other instances of double comparison ? Recall one of the most 
familiar quotations from Julius Ccesar. 

73. rest damned : compare line 44. 

91. Here comes : does Corin seem glad to change the sub- 
ject ? Why did not the dramatist let the conversation continue 
for some time further ? 

92. new mistress's brother: in line 92 of Act II, Scene 4, 
Ganymede was the one who arranged for the buying of the prop- 
erty. Why, then, is he referred to as the brother of Corin's new 
mistress, rather than simply as new master f Possibly a hint on 
the question may be found by a comparison with Lodge at this 
point. The story differs in Lodge's novel, for there it is not the 
page of Aliena, i.e. Ganymede, but -Aliena herself who pur- 
chases the sheep and the farm. Shakespeare, having changed 
the position of the disguised Rosalind from a page or servant to 
a brother of Aliena, seems nevertheless to follow his original in 
making Aliena the one most looked up to by Corin. Still, it is 



154 NOTES [Act III. Sc. it 

possible that Corin's reference in A. Y. L. is merely his trib- 
ute to the beauty of his new master's sister. 

94. jewel : description of Rosalind is given in various parts 
of the play. It is worth while, as an exercise, to get together 
these different bits of description. The reader can then form a 
distinct idea of the appearance of Rosalind, and will be able to 
give an intelligent opinion about the fidelity to Shakespeare of 
different portraits of Rosalind and of different impersonations 
of Rosalind on the stage. This method of gaining an accurate 
visualization of characters is to be recommended in the study of 
any play or novel. With this systematic study one will be able 
incidentally to detect gross departures from the exact state- 
ments of the text in the illustrations to the text furnished by 
numerous illustrators of present-day fiction. Accurate and 
thorough study, then, of the appearance of Rosalind, though 
likely to be irritating to some emotional minds, is decidedly 
worth while. 

Rosalind is described much more fully in Lodge's Eosalynde. 
Five passages where Rosalind is described are here brought to- 
gether. What does Lodge mention that Shakespeare leaves out ? 
Does Shakespeare insert anything not found in Lodge ? Are | 
the detailed descriptions of Lodge superior to the short, con- 
densed descriptions of the dramatist ? Is there any reason why 
the descriptions in the play should be less extended than those 
in the novel ? 

(a) Rosader (Orlando) says that Rosalynde is a diamond, a 
pearl, a rose ; that she is a Daphne ; that the sweet harmony of 
the birds puts him in mind of the rare melody of her voice ; and 
that her sweet eyes " stain the sun in shine." 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 155 

(6) Engraved with a knife on the bark of a tree by Rosader 
were the words, " Of all faire maydes my Rosalynde is 
fairest." 

(c) " As every mans eye had his several survey, and fancie 
was partial in their lookes, yet all in general applauded the 
admirable riches that Nature bestowed on the face of Rosa- 
lynde ; for uppon her cheeks there seemed a battaille betweene 
the Graces, who should bestow most favour to make her excel- 
lent. The blush that gloried Luna, when she kist the Shepheard 
on the hills of Latmos, was not tainted with such a pleasant 
dye, as the Vermilion flourisht on the silver hue of Rosalynde's 
countenance : her eyes were lyke those Lampes that made the 
wealthie covert of the Heavens more gorgious, sparkling favour 
and disdaine ; courteous and yet coye, as if in them Venus had 
placed all her amorets, and Diana all her chastitie." 

(d) Three of the nine stanzas entitled " Rosalyndes Descrip- 
tion " by Rosader are quoted as giving further details in expan- 
sion of the topic suggested in c, the description of the face of 
Rosalynde. 

" Her eyes are Saphires set in snow, 
Refining heaven by every wincke : 
The gods do feare when as they glow, 
And I do tremble when I thinke : 
Heigh ho, would she were mine. 

" Her chekes are lyke the blushing clowde 
That bewtifies Auroraes face, 
Or lyke the silver crimsin shrowde, 
That Phoebus smiling lookes doth grace : 
Heigh ho, faire Rosalynde. 



156 NOTES [Act III. Sc. ii. 

" Her lippes are like two budded roses, 

Whonie ranckes of lillies neighbour nie, 
"Within which bounds she balme incloses, 
Apt to intice a Deitie : 
Heigh ho, would she were mine." 

(e) " The tramelles of her hay re, foulded in a call of Golde, 
so farre surpast the burnish t glister of the mettal, as the Sunne 
doth the meanest Starre in brightness : the tresses that foldes in 
the browes of Apollo were not halfe so rich to the sight, for 
in her hayres it seemed love had laid herselfe in ambush, to 
intrappe the proudest eye that durst gaze uppon their excel- 
lence : what shoulde I neede to decipher her particular beau- 
ties, when by the censure of all, shee was the Paragon of all 
earthly perfection." 

103. right butter-women's rank : " right " means true, exact, 
downright. Compare lines 128 and 290. Regarding the mean- 
ing of "rank," there is difference of opinion. It has been 
conjectured by several critics that just as in our day pedlers 
sometimes sing verses to attract customers, so in Shakespeare's 
age the butter-women held their places in the market according 
to their ability to compose and sing doggerel that would make 
known the merits of their butter. Touchstone, then, implies 
that the verses he is criticising are no better than the doggerel 
of the butter-women. Rolfe, on the hand, thinks that " rank " 
means jog-trot. The whole expression thus merely has to do 
with the regular motion of the verses, one foot plodding along 
after another. Some commentators explain "rank" as mean- 
ing order or file. With this understanding of the word one of 
the editors translates the expression substantially as follows : 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 157 

' ' This kind of verse is exactly like the shuffling gait of a butter- 
woman's nag going to market." 

125. medlar: observe the pun on medlar and meddler. A 
clipping from one of the daily papers sufficiently explains the 
meaning of medlar: "Eve's apple is a feature of the seven- 
tieth fair of the American Institute, which opened yesterday at 
the headquarters in the Berkeley Lyceum, West Forty-fourth 
Street. As befits its possibilities for discord, it is known as the 
Medlar, is small and innocent in appearance, and eatable only 
when it is decayed. Cornell University is the exhibitor of this 
rarity. The feminine requests for ' just one bite,' yesterday, 
almost drove the management to despair." The thought in the 
following extract from Lodge's Rosalyncle appears to have been 
closely followed by Shakespeare, " ' I grant, Aliena, many men 
have done amisse, in proving soone ripe and soone rotten, but 
particular instances inferre no generall conclusions.' " Again, 
in "Adam Spencer's Speech," is the sentence, " The joys of 
man, as they are few, so are they momentarie, scarce ripe before 
they are rotten.'''' 

153. Helen's cheek : the taking of Helen, the wife of Mene- 
laus, by Paris, son of King Priam, was the occasion for the 
Trojan war. Helen was given to Paris by the goddess Venus, 
who had promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. 

155. Atalanta's better part: perhaps her heels, for she was 
particularly swift-footed. Compare line 294. An allusion to this 
characteristic of Atalanta will be found in Twice-told Tales, 
page 19, line 10, in the Pocket Classics series : " Their foot- 
steps are supported by the risen dust, — the wind lends them 
its velocity, — they fly like three sea birds driven landward by 



158 NOTES [Act III. Sc. ii. 

the tempestuous breeze. The ladies would not thus rival Ata- 
lanta if they but knew that any one were at leisure to observe 
them." After giving three long pages of more or less tiresome 
guesses by nearly twenty commentators on Shakespeare's allu- 
sion to u Atalanta's better part," Furness says shortly, that he 
thinks Atalanta's better part was her physical beauty, her per- 
sonal charms. 

156. Sad Lucretia's modesty : what does " sad ' ' usually mean 
in Shakespeare ? Compare III, 2, 225. Who was Lucretia ? 

163. pulpiter : instead of pulpiter, the early folio editions 
read Jupiter. By noting the significance of the word homily 
in this same line, you will see the reason for the generally ac- 
cepted emendation, "most gentle pulpiter." 

171. scrip and scrippage : the scrip was the shepherd's pouch. 
Compare Lodge, "Therefore, Forrester, if thou wilt take such 
fare as comes out of our homely scrips, welcome shall answere 
whatsoever thou wantest [lackest] in delicates." Scrippage is 
invented by the clown on the analogy of baggage. 

178. feet were lame : where are there any lame feet in the 
writing which Celia reads ? 

184. nine days: a reference to the familiar expression, "a 
nine days' wonder." 

186. palm tree : compare III, 5, 75 and IV, 3, 78. See 
also Introduction, page xxxiv. 

187. Irish rat : in the study of Rosalind's sentence, " I was 
never so be-rhymed since Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish 
rat, which I can hardly remember," class-room experience has 
shown that four things need comment : — 

(1) The explanation of rat is easy. Many scholars have 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 159 

written about the ancient superstition that rats were amenable 
to exorcisms and that a house could be freed of rats if proper 
verses were chanted or hung up about the building. The rats 
would quickly flee or die in their tracks. 

(2) Irish is not more difficult to explain ; in Shakespeare's 
time it was considered a good joke to refer to the beliefs in 
magic that held sway in crude, partially civilized Ireland. 
There is another hit at the Irish in V, 2, 119. 

(3) That, too, is not difficult, for it is evidently used in the 
sense of when. 

(4) Pythagoras 1 time is harder to understand. Light is 
gained here by a reference to another of Shakespeare's plays. 
In TJie Merchant of Venice, IV, 1, 126-133, we read : — 

" Thou almost mak' st me waver in my faith 
To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
That souls of animals infuse themselves 
Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit 
Governed a wolf, who, hanged for human slaughter, 
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 
And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallowed dam, 
Infused itself in thee." 

Shakespeare is making use of a part of the doctrine of trans- 
migration or metempsychosis. At the death of the animal, its 
soul might take up its residence in a human body. In the pas- 
sage from The Merchant of Venice, Gratiano says, in substance, 
that he is almost inclined to believe in the truth of the doctrine. 
He thinks that the soul of a ravenous wolf must have moved 
into the body of Shylock, even before Shylock was born. 
Similarly, in the troublesome lines from As You Like It, Rosa- 



160 NOTES [Act III. Sc. ii. 

lind suggests, playfully, that at one time her soul must have 
dwelt in the body of a rat. She means to intimate that she 
never was the subject of so many bits of poor verse since the 
time when the soul which is now in her was in the body of a 
rat that was rhymed to death. Of course, the expression is on 
her part purely whimsical or jocular. 

193. I prithee, who : asked in real ignorance ? 

194. for friends to meet : Celia is making use of the old say- 
ing, " Friends may meet, but mountains never greet." 

203. out of all whooping : what was it that Celia considered 
most wonderful and out of all whooping ? 

204. Good my complexion : Dr. Furness writes, " Since, in 
this case, in the interpretation of the original text, there is no 
aid to be gained from the wise, in Archaeology, Etymology, or Syn- 
tax, we simple folk may make what meaning we please for our- 
selves, or else pick out one from the foregoing, or combine them 
all." Two of the attempted explanations which he cites are : 
"That is, my native character, my female inquisitive disposi- 
tion, canst thou endure this?" and " It is a little unmeaning 
exclamatory address to her beauty ; in the nature of a small 
oath." 

207. South-sea of discovery : this is probably humorous ex- 
aggeration, in which South-sea is referred to rather than any 
other sea, because it happened to pop into Shakespeare's head 
and seemed to him far away, yet sufficiently familiar to his 
audience because of the many exploring ventures of the time. 
It is only fair to add, however, that one Shakespeare scholar 
calls the passage "painfully obscure"; and that others 
explain " of discovery " as meaning " off discovery " and para- 



Act III. Sc. ii.] NOTES 161 

phrase as follows, "A South-sea of discovery is a discovery a 
South-sea off — as far off as the South-sea." 

226. sad brow and true maid : evidently a current expres- 
sion used when a person wished another to stop joking and 
speak truly and soberly. Sad often means sober in Shake- 
speare. Perhaps parallel with the expression of one's child- 
hood, "cross your heart," which, by the way, one did not 
understand at all then in its real significance. 

238. Gargantua's mouth : for a good explanation of this see 
Century Dictionary of Names. 

249. Jove's tree : the oak was sacred to Jove. 

260! my heart : observe the pun. Celia says that Orlando 
was furnished like a hunter. What animal might he be intend- 
ing to hunt the name of which would sound exactly like heart ? 

261. burden: see Murray, "The bass, 'undersong,' or ac- 
companiment." This line is cited by Murray in illustration. 

264. I must speak : is Rosalind fair to her sex in this state- 
ment ? Compare IV, 1, 205. 

266. slink : what is gained by the use of so specific a word 
as this ? 

286. as my heart : from this statement and other details 
about Rosalind's height, what can you conjecture about the 
height of Orlando ? 

289. conned them out of rings : does the pronoun " them" 
refer to wives or to answers ? Love posies or amatory lines of 
poetry for rings were abundant and popular at the end of the 
sixteenth century. Murray defines con as "To get to know, to 
study or learn ; to commit to memory." 

290. right painted cloth: that is, sententiously. On hang- 

m 



162 NOTES [Act III. Sc. ii. 

ings or painted cloths were to be found sententious sayings and 
proverbs. The house of Robert Arden, father of Shakespeare's 
wife, was adorned by " eleven painted cloths, which then did 
duty for tapestries among the middle class." See Lee's Life of 
Shakespeare, page 7. 
294. Atalanta's heels : compare line 155. 

305. look but in : paraphrase this to bring out the idea which 
you get from it. 

306. shall : comment on the use of this verb. 
312. Monsieur Melancholy: compare II, 1, 26. 

326. By no means, sir : what is the purpose of this colloquy? 
Is it entertaining ? Is it natural ? Does it advance the plot ? 
Does it help to show the character of Rosalind and Orlando ? 

344. ambles withal : note that in the shorter replies telling 
with whom time gallops and with whom it stays still Rosalind 
does not make complete sentences. Why does she end the 
speech which begins " With a priest" by filling out a complete 
sentence, "these, Time ambles withal " ? 

352. pretty youth : would this probably have offended Gany- 
mede if he had been really a man ? Compare III, 5, 113. 

362. religious uncle : Rosalind's clever fiction about her 
uncle is one of her best inventions. " Religious" uncle means 
uncle who devoted himself to religion, i.e., who was a priest or 
minister. In Lodge more details are given concerning the skill 
in necromancy of him by whom she alleges that she was taught. 

373. his : find other similar uses of personal pronouns where 
the form at the present day would be impersonal. 

381. deifying : look up the verses where she is compared 
with various goddesses, 



Act III. Sc. iii.] NOTES 163 

385. love-shaked : Rosalind's "quotidian" suggests to Or- 
lando the idea of some kind of fever. How does the word 
"quotidian" come to suggest a fever? 

393. unquestionable spirit : a spirit that will not stand being 
questioned ; irritable, impatient. 

402. point-device : that is, with great nicety or exactitude ; 
with finical care. 

406. Me believe it : the directness of Rosalind is beautifully- 
simple and natural. Compare with "You a lover," IV, 1, 40. 

420. merely: see Franz, § 241 : "Merely hat noch entspre- 
chend dem Adjectiv mere ' complete, utter, absolute ' den dem 
Etymon merus ' rein ' nahe stehenden Sinn von ' quite, abso- 
lutely. 1 " 

438. that : so that. 

452. by the way : along the way. 

Scene III 

6. what features : observe the pun. 

8. honest Ovid : who was Ovid ? 

9. the Goths : to readers of the present day the pun is not 
obvious, because we sound the h in " Goths." If, however, the 
word is pronounced without the h, it may be in sound exactly 
like goats. Thus the pun becomes plain — to be sure, a far- 
fetched pun in our ears. In a history of Italy printed in the 
year 1561, the word Goths appears in the form Gotes. 

11. Jove in a thatched house: the reference is to the enter- 
tainment of two gods, Jove and Mercury, by a pious rustic, 
Philemon, and his wife, Baucis, in their humble thatched hut. 
Because of this hospitality the poor hut of the peasants was 



164 NOTES [Act III. Sc. iii. 

transformed into a temple. Those who are studying Latin will 
enjoy looking up the story in the eighth book of Ovid's Meta- 
morphoses, lines 620-724. The particular lines which suggested 
Shakespeare's words "thatched house " are lines 628-630 : — 

" mille domos adiere, locum requiemque petentes: 
mille domos clausere serae. Tamen una recepit, 
parva quidem, stipulis et carina tecta palustri." 

The editor ventures to translate this passage, freely, "They 
came up to a thousand houses, seeking a place to rest ; the 
doors of a thousand houses banged in their faces. Nevertheless, 
one house took them in, a little house to be sure, thatched with 
straw and reeds from the swamp." There is another reference 
to Jove in III, 2, 249- 

15. great reckoning : Touchstone says in substance that if 
one's verses cannot be understood, or if one's wit is not intel- 
ligible to the hearer, one is staggered as much as he would be 
by receiving a large bill for inferior hotel accommodations. 
Furness quotes, as an admirable paraphrase, the following from 
Moberly, " To have one's poetry not understood is worse than 
the bill of a first-class hotel in a pot-house." 

39. foul: compare III, 5, 62, and 66. The word "foul" 
has two distinct meanings, given in Murray's New English Dic- 
tionary : — 

(1) soiled, dirty, unclean. By way of illustrating this mean- 
ing of the word, Murray quotes a passage from A. Y. L. 
II, 7, 60, "the foul body of the infected world," where the 
sense of fold evidently = tainted with disease, charged with 
offensive matter, 



Act III. Sc. iv.] NOTES 165 

(2) not fair, i.e. homely, plain, ugly, unattractive. A quo- 
tation from an early writer, Langland, in his Piers Ploughman, 
will illustrate this sense of the word: " Thenne tok ich hede, 
Whether the fruit were faire other foul to loken on" = " Then 
I took heed whether the fruit was fair or unattractive to look 
at." The second meaning is the one which fits the context in 
line 39 ; the first, in line 35. 

43. Martext : what humorous suggestion is there in the name 
of this vicar ? 

47. the gods give us joy : Furness conjectures that this ex- 
clamation of Audrey indicates that she considered the match 
firmly concluded. The formula was one used to clinch an 
engagement. In the Henrietta Crosman performance of the 
play, Audrey repeats the words a dozen or more times. The 
exclamation thus becomes a particularly characteristic part of 
the scene, and helps to bring out the contrast between Audrey, 
whom Verplanck calls only a rustic, and Phebe, whom he de- 
scribes as an Arcadian coquette. 

73. What-ye-call't : such expressions as this, striking the 
reader with surprise because seemingly so modern, may occa- 
sionally be found in Shakespeare and other early writers of 
English. Compare IV, 1, 123. 

78. be covered : why had the vicar uncovered ? 

109. out of my calling : what does ' ' calling ' ' mean here ? 

Scene IV 

7. dissembling color: this is to be explained in connection 
with Celia's answer in which she mentions Judas. Judas's hair, 
according to tradition, was red. Some one has said that a red 



166 NOTES [Act III. Sc. iv. 

beard was considered an infallible token of a vile disposition. 
In a German-Latin poem of about 1020 a.d., there is a maxim 
which may be translated, " Don't put your faith in a red- 
head." See the New Testament for an explanation of Judas's 
kiss. 

12. chestnut : where else is the color of Rosalind's hair re- 
ferred to ? 

16. cast lips : kisses from the lips of a statue of Diana would 
naturally be cold ; the " ice " of chastity might well be in them. 
Some editors, however, read chaste instead of cast. Furness is 
quite emphatic in his assertion that cast must be a mere pho- 
netic spelling of chaste, or else an outright misprint for that 
word. He says that an allusion to her chastity is almost in- 
separable from Diana. Murray, however, quotes this passage 
in his dictionary under the word cast = thrown off, disused, 
worn out, abandoned, forsaken, generally written now "cast 
off." 

26. concave as a covered goblet : concave means hollow, as 
explained by Murray. A goblet was kept covered only when it 
was empty, so that a "covered goblet" would necessarily be 
empty or hollow or concave. Celia says, then, in effect, that 
Orlando is not to be depended on in love ; his professions are 
hollow. 

33. was : Celia's play on the past tense used by Rosalind is 
effective. We often hear this same retort nowadays. 

41. what : explained by Franz, § 209, as meaning why. 

45. traverse: see the eighth chapter of Ivanhoe, where 
Grantmesnil is fighting in the tournament. 

52. who : comment on the grammar. 



Act III. Sc. v.] NOTES 167 

62. busy actor : do you conjecture how she intends to act 
on hearing the conversation of the shepherd and the shep- 
herdess ? 

Scene V 

5. Falls : used transitively. Paraphrased : The executioner 
lets not the axe fall upon the humbled neck without first beg- 
ging pardon. 

13. atomies : consult dictionary for this and for cicatrice and 
capable impressure, 23 ; bugle, 47 ; proper, 55 ; carlot, 108. 

26. Nor : double negative. Where else are there instances 
of this ? 

27. That can do hurt : observe that this clause modifies 
"force," not " eyes." 

37. no beauty : Rosalind is making fun of Phebe. Conse- 
quently, it is not necessary to change "no" to some, as is 
done by various editors. One commentator, in justifying his 
change of the text to some, suggested that a careless compositor 
of the folio edition caught the word "no" from the next line. 

43. nature's sale-work : things made to order are supposed 
to be finished more carefully than those made for sale to any 
comer. 

47. cheek of cream: the specific language in Rosalind's 
description of Phebe is worthy of comment. Phebe appears 
to better advantage in Lodge. There she is described as the 
fairest shepherdess in all Arden, clothed "in a petticote of 
scarlet, covered with a green mantle, and to shrowd her from 
the Sunne, a chaplet of roses, from under which appeared a 
face full of Nature's excellence, and two such eyes as might 



168 NOTES [Act III. Sc. v. 

have amated a greater man than Montanus (Silvius)." Again, 
in the Lodge story, Montanus makes a bit of verse in which he 
speaks of Phebe's brow as white, and her eye as coy, though 
mild and dovelike. 

50. foggy south : south winds in England are often accom- 
panied by fog and wind and rain. 

62. Foul is most foul : that is, the ugly or homely seem most 
ugly when, though ugly, they are scornful. Compare III, 
3, 39. 

75. tuft of olives : compare III, 2, 186. 

82. Dead shepherd : Marlowe, a dramatist of the Elizabethan 

period. 

" ' Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? ' " 

is a line taken from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, which was first 
published in 1598. Guided by the insertion of this line from 
Marlowe, and by one or two other considerations, commentators 
have concluded that A. Y. L. was probably written in 1599. 

83. at first sight: compare " Is 't possible that on so little 
acquaintance you should like her ? that but seeing you should 
love her ? " line 2 of Act V, Scene 2. In Lodge's Rosalynde, 
Rosader (Orlando) and Saladyne (Oliver) love "at first sight" 
just as they do in A. Y. L. 

86. relief would be : observe the connection between Silvius's 
speech and Phebe's. Phebe expresses sympathy with Silvius, 
and he replies that when any one feels real sympathy that per- 
son has a desire to relieve the sorrow. Silvius proceeds to tell 
Phebe how she can relieve his sorrow. 

90. Thou hast my love : Phebe is less yielding in Bosalynde ; 
she tells Montanus (Silvius) that she "cannot love at all." 



Act III. Sc. v.] NOTES 169 

113. pretty youth : compare III, 2, 352. 

118. not very tall : are the references to Rosalind's height 
all consistent ? Compare I, 2, 284. 

125. In parcels : the descriptions of Rosalind and Phebe in 
Bosalynde may be accurately characterized as "in parcels." 
Observe, for example, this detailed description of Ganymede by 
Phebe, " She called to mynd the several bewties ofyoong Gani- 
tnede : first, his lockes, which being amber hued, passeth the 
wreathe that Phoebus puts on to make his front glorious : his 
browe of yvorie, was like the seate where Love and Majestie 
sits inthronde to enchaine Fancy [Love] ; his eyes as bright as 
the burnishing of the heaven, darting forth frowns with dis- 
daine, and smiles with favour, lightning such lookes as would 
enflame desire, were she wrapt in the Circle of the frozen Zoane : 
in his cheekes the vermillion teinture of the Rose flourished upon 
naturall Alabaster, the blushe of the Morne and Lunaes silver 
showe were so lively pourtrayed, that the Troyan that filles out 
wine to Jupiter was full of pleasance, and al the rest of his 
liniaments proportioned with such excellence, as Phoebe was 
fettred in the sweetnes of his feature." 

133. omittance is no quittance : merely a catch phrase, the 
sense of which is obvious. Phebe says that the fact that she 
did not answer back does not indicate that she will not do so at 
some time. She now proposes to write a tart letter. 



170 NOTES [Act IV. Sc. i. 

ACT IV 

Scene I 

1. pretty youth : who before has called Rosalind-Ganymede 
a pretty youth ? 

3. melancholy : compare II, 1, 41. 

7. censure : does the word here have the same meaning as in 
line 199 ? 

10-20. I have neither, etc.: one of the editors thinks that 
these ten lines, printed here as prose, are really blank verse. 
Can you divide the passage into lines of poetry ? 

15. nice : not the colorless word of present-day talk. What 
does " nice melancholy " mean ? 

23. lands : that is, property or real estate. 

28. had rather : a good old English idiom. The purist, 
however, asserts that " would rather " is a preferable form. 

31. God buy you : collect similar expressions in the play. 
an: frequently used instead of "if." 

32. blank verse : scan Orlando's greeting, which Jaques calls 
" blank verse." Blank verse, in the strict sense, is iambic pen- 
tameter, unrhymed. 

40. all this while : compare III, 4, 20. 

49. o' the shoulder : an arrow of Cupid, Rosalind says, may 
have slightly wounded Orlando on the shoulder ; but his heart 
has not been pierced. 

67. leer : the word as used by Shakespeare was of a broader 
significance than now. See Kluge and Lutz's English Etymol- 
ogy, which should be in the school library, for the original 
meaning of leer. 



Act IV. Sc. L] NOTES 171 

81. new matter : that is, a new subject for conversation. 

97. Troilus: the club by which Troilus died appears to be 
pure invention on Rosalind's part, for Troilus was killed by 
Achilles' spear. Try, by diligent searching of a classical dic- 
tionary, to find out whether the other allusions are similarly 
inventions of the author. Did Leander die of cramp ? 

100. Leander, he : do not model your speech after Shake- 
speare in this usage. 

111. not kill a fly: compare the talk between Silvius and 
Phebe. Had Rosalind heard this conversation ? 

119. Ay: see Franz, §251, " Wahrscheinlich ist es eine 
dialektische Variante von ay, aye = * immer ' (gespr. e l ) ; der 
Bedeutungswandel von ' immer ' zu ' ja ' hat nichts Auffalliges." 

123. too much of a good thing : see note on " Master What- 
ye-call't," III, 3, 73. 

124. you shall be the priest : in Lodge's story there is what 
is called a " courting eclogue," proposed by Ganimede in sport. 
While Ganimede and Rosader (Orlando) are carrying on their 
pretended courting, Aliena (Celia) plays them a melody on her 
pipe. At the end of the courting scene, the narrative is contin- 
ued thus: "And thereupon (quoth Aliena) lie play the priest. 
From this day forth Ganimede shall call thee husband, and thou 
shalt cal Ganimede wife, and so weele have a marriage. Con- 
tent (quoth Rosader), and laught. Content (quoth Ganimede), 
and chaunged as red as a rose : and so with a smile and a blush, 
they made up this jesting match, that after proved a marriage 
in earnest : Rosader full little thinking hee had wooed and 
woonne his Rosalynde." How has the dramatist improved on 
the novelist ? Or, do you like the story told in Lodge's quaint 



172 NOTES [Act IV. Sc. i. 

language better than that presented in Shakespeare's play? 
Why is this mock marriage a particularly good element of com- 
edy in A. Y. L. ? 

130. Go to : Celia appears to resent Rosalind's implication 
that she, Celia, is unfamiliar with the marriage formula. 

138. your commission : to whom does Rosalind address this 
remark ? 

155. Diana in the fountain : there are several references in 
writers of the time to statues of Diana ornamenting fountains. 
Some critics think that Shakespeare alludes to a specific foun- 
tain, in which water was conveyed through an image of Diana 
in such a way as to give the figure the appearance of weep- 
ing. 

180. two hours : observe the time element. This promise of 
Orlando's opens the way for new complications of the plot, for 
new reproaches by Rosalind if Orlando shall fail to keep his 
promise. What are these new developments ? 

205. misused our sex : has Rosalind misused her sex ? Com- 
pare III, 2, 204. 

210. fathom : is this word singular or plural ? 

212. bay of Portugal : this need not be taken as an allusion 
to the unfathomable depth of a Portuguese bay ; perhaps Rosa- 
lind simply happened to think of this body of water on the spur 
of the moment. Her point is obvious enough. Still, one of the 
editors has stumbled upon a reference to "the bay of Portugal " 
in a letter written by Sir Walter Raleigh. The bay is " off the 
coast of Portugal from Oporto to the headland of Cintra," and 
is extremely deep. It is possible, therefore, that the dramatist 
did really have a specific body of water in mind. 



Act IV. Sc. ii.] NOTES 173 

219. blind rascally boy: Cupid. Compare line 48. The 
reference is taken almost directly from Lodge. 

224. I'll sleep : an admirable ending for the scene, contrast- 
ing Rosalind's flurried spirits with the calm indifference of 
Celia. Do you see how the scene would close on the stage ? 
Describe the picture that is in your mind, and then,. if you ever 
see the play given by a first-rate company, observe whether 
your idea of the situation is the same as that of the actors. See 
note on II, 6, 17. 

Scene II 

1 . killed the deer : another example of a scene which begins 
abruptly, letting the reader by implication into the midst of a 
situation. What has this scene to do with the story or plot ? 
Does the scene create an attitude of suspense in the reader ? 
The following extract from the " Memorial Theatre Edition " of 
Shakespeare is of interest in connection with this part of the 
play : "On the occasion of the first representation of As You 
Like It in the Memorial Theatre, 30 April, 1879, there was 
carried on the stage by the foresters a fallow deer which had 
been that morning shot by H. S. Lucy, Esq., of Charlecote 
Park, out of the herd descended from that upon which Shake- 
speare is credited with having made a raid in his youth. The 
deer is now stuffed, and carried on whenever the play is acted 
at Stratford." 

14. The rest shall bear this burden : compare note on III, 2, 
261. Commentators are divided upon the question whether it is 
better to include these words in the song itself, or to print them 
as a stage direction. 



174 NOTES [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

Scene III 

2. much Orlando : the impatience of Rosalind is brought 
out extremely well by this ironical ejaculation. Compare note 
on " Me believe it," III, 2, 406. See also IV, 1, 40. 

6. fair youth: compare "pretty youth" of a preceding 
scene. 

14. bear this : that is, if one can submit to this, one can 
submit to anything. 

16. that she could : notice the grammatical incoherence of 
the sentence. What does the clause depend upon ? Is there 
anything in the situation itself to warrant this incoherence ? 

17. phoenix: this fabulous bird is referred to several times 
in Lodge. A good many insurance companies are now 
called " Phoenix." In a recent issue of an insurance journal, 
for instance, there were advertisements of half a dozen com- 
panies with this name. What is the point in calling a fire 
insurance company " Phoenix" ? 

48. no vengeance : compare Lodge : " Hitherto mine eyes 
were adamants to resist love." 

49. a beast : the interjected comments of Rosalind-Ganymede 
add much to the humor of the situation. Phebe says that she 
could not be harmed while the eyes of a mere man wooed her. 
Rosalind wilfully perverts this to a suggestion that Phebe would 
imply that Rosalind is not a man, but a beast. 

50. eyne : the First Folio has a different spelling, "eine." 
Under the word eye, Murray gives the archaic plural with the 
spelling " eyne." 

53. mild aspect : notice the two things contrasted in lines 



Act IV. Sc. iii.] NOTES 175 

53 and 54. What words, in reading the passage aloud, should 
be especially stressed to bring out the contrast ? Similarly ex- 
amine the next couplet. 

58. by him seal up : that is, send your reply by him. 

78. olive trees : in Lodge the reference to trees is the same. 
Ganimede and Aliena " sate them doune under an olive tree." 

88. ripe sister : Lettsom, quoted by Furness, emends to 
"right forester." Wright, however, retains the folio reading 
and explains thus, " The meaning must be that Rosalind, 
though in male attire and acting the part of a brother, was in 
her behavior to Celia more like an elder sister." 

89. browner : where else is Celia described ? In staging the 
play, is it important that Celia should have the make-up of a 
brunette ? 

101. Within an hour : as a matter of fact, within what time 
did he really promise to return ? Compare IV, 1, 180. 

105. Under an oak : what other kinds of trees grew in the 
forest of Arden ? What indication of the geographical situation 
of the forest may be found in the various references to trees ? 

112. it : note the two different pronouns referring to the 
gilded snake. 

115. lioness : in Lodge it is a hungry lion that is couching 
near Orlando. The novelist makes the assertion that "Lyons 
hate to pray on dead carkasses." Compare V, 2, 26, " claws of 
a lion." 

117. When that : collect illustrations of Shakespeare's use of 
double conjunctions. 

128. Twice : Shakespeare has departed slightly from his orig- 
inal in this detail. Rosader turned his back only once. He 



176 NOTES [Act IV. Sc. iii. 

thought to himself that here was an opportunity to let his enemy- 
die, and thus gain his property. Then he meditated as follows, 
" Loose not his life, Rosader, to win a worlde of treasure ; for in 
having him thou hast a brother, and by hazarding for his life, 
thou gettest a friend, and reconcilest an enemie ; and more hon- 
our shalt thou purchase by pleasuring a foe, than revenging a 
thousand injuries." The story of how he interfered to save his 
brother's life is about the same in Eosalynde as in A. Y. L. 
Saladyne began to stir uneasily in his sleep, and the lion roused 
himself for a spring. Rosader struck out valiantly with a boar 
spear, whereupon the lion, mortally hurt, leapt at Rosader and 
"gave him a sore pinch on the brest." 

139. bloody napkin : this incident is not in the Lodge story. 

141. recountments : observe the quaint style of the parallel 
passage from Eomhjnde, " Much adoo there was betweene 
these two brethren, Saladyne in craving pardon, and Rosader 
in forgiving and forgetting all former injuries ; the one sub- 
misse, the other curteous ; Saladyne penitent and passionate, 
Rosader kynd and loving ; that at length Nature working an 
union in their thoughts, they earnestly embraced, and fell from 
matters of unkindnesse, to talk of the Country life, which 
Rosader so highly commended, that his brother began to have 
a desire to taste of that homely content." 

143. gentle Duke : remember, Orlando excused himself in the 
first scene of this act because he had to attend the Duke at 
dinner. 

146. his cave : the idyllic nature of the forest life appears 
plainly from such references as this to the primitive habitations 
of the persons in the forest. 



ActV. Sc. i.] NOTES 177 

153. sent me hither : why did not Orlando come himself ? 

155. napkin : handkerchief. Do you recall the use of the 
word napkin by Antony in his speech over the body of Caesar ? 
Compare also Lover's Complaint, 15 : " Oft did she heave her 
napkin to her eyne." 

183. my counterfeiting : worthy of all admiration is Rosa- 
lind's exquisite womanliness in this scene, and at the same time 
her astonishingly quick return to a sense of what the part she 
was playing demanded of her. Yet does she really succeed in 
making Oliver believe the swoon counterfeit ? 

ACT V 

Scene I 

4. old gentleman's saying : compare lines 85-90 of the third 
scene of Act III. 

12. clown : Touchstone was himself by profession a motley 
or clown. What does he mean by calling William disparagingly 
a clown ? 

13. we shall be flouting : shall = must, will be obliged to. 
Compare I, 1, 134. Flout = jeer at, mock at. Compare I, 2, 
49, and III, 3, 109. 

28. so so : see note on IV, 1, 123. 

37. eat a grape : William, on the stage, stands with open 
mouth, gazing at Audrey. Touchstone is impelled to tell him 
that Audrey is not a grape for his lips. See Lodge, "Phcebe 
is no lettice for your lippes, and her grapes hang so high." 
There is no Audrey in the novel. Shakespeare has simply 
transferred the figurative expression from Phebe to his Audrey. 



178 NOTES [Act V. Sc. ii. 

54. female : what is the distinction in our day between the 
words female and woman ? Look in the dictionaries for this 
and for the meanings of bastinado and bandy, 61 ; faction and 
policy, 62. 

65. God rest you merry : God keep you merry, according to 
Rolfe. It is a regular formula for leave-taking. 

6Q. seeks you : can the singular verb be justified in this 
place ? To whom does Corin address his remark ? 

Scene II 

This scene, like the first of Act V, offers little that is diffi- 
cult of interpretation. A few words are used in peculiar senses, 
the grammar is in one or two instances slipshod if judged by 
standards of to-day, and there is a somewhat puzzling allusion 
to Irish wolves. Except for these points, the student will have 
no difficulty with the linguistic side of the scene. From the lit- 
erary and rhetorical sides also the scene is so free from obscuri- 
ties in aim and in construction that one can enter into the spirit 
of the author without difficulty. The object of Scene 2 is evi- 
dently to raise the hearer's attention to the height of expectancy 
before the final unravelling of the plot in Scene 4, the third 
scene being separated from the second merely for the purpose 
of keeping the farcical love story of Audrey and Touchstone 
somewhat distinct from the love-making of the other couples. 
The rhetorical features of greatest interest are the merry repeti- 
tions, by the different lovers, of the same phrases, one 
after another, in lines 90-112 ; and the summarizing speech 
of Rosalind toward the end of the scene, where she prepares 
the way for the nuptials of the morrow. 



Act V. Sc. ii.] NOTES 179 

I. so little acquaintance : Orlando's speech may be consid- 
ered in the nature of an apology by the dramatist for the sudden 
and unaccountable wooing and winning of Celia by Oliver. 
Reference is made, in the Introduction, to Shakespeare's de- 
parture in this respect from his original, by not inserting the 
incident of Saladyne's rescue of Aliena. Still, though the 
passion of Celia seems hasty, can it not be matched almost 
daily by items in the soberest of metropolitan journals or coun- 
try newspapers ? 

5. the giddiness of it : challenged in the novel about the pre- 
cipitancy of his love-making, Saladyne says bluntly, "Let this 
suffice for a country wooing. Saladyne loves Aliena and none 
but Aliena." 

II. my father's house : Oliver is naturally self-important. 
He has had the control of his father's property, but has been 
unjustly holding back some of Orlando's revenues. Neverthe- 
less, he adopts the high-and-mighty air, and speaks of his father 
and of "old Sir Rowland." Even after his conversion, he 
shows objectionable traits of character. What can be said, 
however, in his favor ? 

16. contented : what is gained by the slipping in of this 
adjective ? Would it have been just as well for Orlando to say 
merely that he would invite the Duke and his followers ? 

20. God save you, brother : compare V, 1, 65. Is there any 
special significance in the use of the terms brother and sister in 
lines 20 and 21 ? 

34. thrasonical brag : Thraso was a bragging soldier in Ter- 
ence's Eunuchus. The adjective thrasonical, therefore, which 
was early introduced into our language, means vainglorious, 



180 NOTES [Act V. Sc. ii. 

given to bragging or boasting. The well-known "brag "of 
Caesar to which Rosalind refers is, in the Latin, Veni, vidi, 
vici. 

47. nuptial: nuptials. Compare "year," line 65. See dic- 
tionary for incontinent, 42 ; wrath, 44 ; conceit, 59 ; grace, 
6.3 ; conversed, 65 ; gesture, 69 ; and dearly, line 77. 

65. a magician : compare Ganimede's statement to Rosader 
(Orlando), "Tush, be of good cheare, man; I have a friend 
that is deeply experienst in Necromancy and Magicke ; what 
art can do shall be acted for thine advantage : I will cause him 
to bring in Rosalynde, if either France or any bordring Na- 
tion harbour her ; and upon that take the faith of a yoong 
shepheard." 

82. comes : see note on I, 2, 124. 

100. fantasy: defined by one of the editors, "Fancy or 
imagination, with its unaccountable anticipations and appre- 
hensions, as opposed to the calculations of reason." See the 
same word in II, 4, 31. Is it used there in the same sense ? 

119. Irish wolves: compare Irish rat, III, 2, 187. Furness 
comments thus: "The clue to this allusion is probably lost. 
There were wolves in England which presumably bayed against 
the moon quite as monotonously or dismally as in Ireland." 
If one may venture a suggestion where Dr. Furness and others 
are at sea, this explanation may be offered. Probably no more 
significance attaches to the word Irish than that Shakespeare 
thought it would be something of a joke again to poke fun at 
Ireland and the Irish, as he did in III, 2, 187. In the Lodge 
story the reference is not to Irish wolves, but to wolves of 
Syria. Ganimede said to Montanus: "I tell thee, Montanus, 



Act V. Sc. iii.] NOTES 181 

in courting Phoebe, thou barkest with the Wolves of Syria 
against the Moone." 

123. if ever I marry: the corresponding thought in Bosa- 
lynde is : "I wil never marry myself e to woman but unto thy 
selfe." 

124. be married to-morrow: is she actually married next 
day in the play itself ? 

Scene III 

4. dishonest desire : Murray gives as one meaning of dishon- 
est "unchaste, lewd, filthy." Compare honest, I, 2, 41, and 
III, 3, 26, in the sense of "chaste" ; and honesty, III, 3, 35, 
which has the meaning of "chastity." The words "to be a 
woman of the world" are equivalent to "to be a married 
woman." Audrey means, then, that she hopes that it is no 
immodest desire to wish to be married to Touchstone. 

6. pages: why these "pages" happen to pass along at this 
point would be puzzling if the plot were the main thing in 
A. Y. L. The song of the pages has nothing to do directly with 
the action of the play. Yet indirectly this musical scene pre- 
pares the way for the wedding festivity suggested in Touch- 
stone's first speech, when he says merrily to Audrey — not in 
order to give her information for the first time, but in order to 
express his happiness at the thought — that next day is to be 
their joyful wedding day. 

11. clap into 't roundly : Murray quotes this passage under 
the word clap : "To enter with alacrity and briskness upon 
anything ; to strike into." 

13. the only prologues : only the prologues. 



182 NOTES [Act V. Sc. iv. 

16. two gipsies : it is not necessary to search for a remote 
allusion here. The reference to two gipsies on one horse is 
merely a chance comparison that happened to occur to the 
mind of the care-free page. 

20. ring time : how does this bear on what Touchstone and 
Audrey had been talking about ? Do you think that as the 
pages approached they overheard the conversation between 
Audrey and Touchstone ? The folio edition has " rang time," 
the meaning of which is not clear. 

33. the prime : compare Lodge, " Such, my faire shepheard- 
esse, as disdaine in youth desire in age, and then are they hated 
in winter, that might have been loved in the prime.' 1 '' To what 
season of the year does " prime " refer ? 

36. matter : sense, substance. Compare II, 1, 68. 

40. yes : Touchstone's bantering attitude toward the singers 
is characteristic. He is always on the outlook for an opportu- 
nity to pervert to different senses the words of those with whom 
he converses. In this case he grants that the pages did not lose 
their time or tune, but maintains that their voices are untune- 
able, i.e., discordant, and that their song was "foolish," so that 
he and Audrey lost their time, i.e., wasted their time in listen- 
ing to the song. 

Scene IV 

4. fear they hope : a dozen editors quoted by Furness have 
paraphrased this passage in about the same way ; turn to the 
Variorum and take your choice. White thinks that apology is 
necessary for offering "even a paraphrastic explanation" of so 
simple a passage. He then goes on to paraphrase : " As those 



Act V. Sc. iv.] NOTES 183 

who are apprehensive that they are deceiving themselves by in- 
dulging a secret hope, although they know they fear the issue." 

5. compact : note accent. Tell in your own words the agree- 
ment which Rosalind carefully insists on. 

18. even: compare line 25. What does "even" in this 
scene mean ? 

21. keep your word : the folio reads " keep you your word." 
Why is it advisable to cut out the ' ' you " as Pope did ? 

22. to wed: observe the break in construction. Instead of 
*' to wed," what would you write in prose to make a good sen- 
tence ? 

24. from hence: if you have been told that "hence" 
means "from here," how can you justify Shakespeare's from 
hence ? 

27. lively : define this word, and desperate, 32 ; toward, 
35; purgation, 44; dulcet, 68; nominate, 92; Atone, 116; 
Addressed, 162 ; power, 162 ; conduct, 163 ; shrewd, 179 ; 
pompous, 188 ; convertites, 190. 

40. Good my lord : the variable position of the adjective and 
the pronoun in such expressions is plainly seen by a comparison 
of this line with line 30. See also note on I, 1, 2. 

49. like to have fought: this same locution is heard now 
occasionally in the expression which is generally considered a 
mark of " country " speech, " I like to have died," i.e., I was 
on the point of dying, it seemed likely that I should die. 

62. honesty : compare note on V, 3, 4. 

63. your pearl : again notice a touch of diction perfectly 
familiar at the present time and often felt by the person using 
it as distinctly of nineteenth century origin. Touchstone's 



184 NOTES [Act V. Sc. iv. 

your does not imply that the Duke owns the pearl in a foul 
oyster. The word your in this colloquialism is equivalent to an. 
Compare line 107. Might "your" in line 12 of the fourth 
scene of Act III be a similar use ? 

67. fool's bolt: a reference to the adage, "A fool's bolt is 
soon shot." 

68. dulcet diseases : one critic suggests that perhaps Touch- 
stone calls a proverb a disease, thinking that proverbial sayings 
are the surfeiting diseases of conversation. One meaning of 
disease given by Murray is "discomfort, annoyance." 

91. measured swords : duels were always preceded by this 
ceremony, so that neither duelist might have an unfair advan- 
tage of the other in length and size of weapon. Why is 
space given at this interesting point in the action to mere 
verbal ingenuity on Touchstone's part as Jaques spurs him 
on? 

94. by the book : probably a reference to a book on duelling 
by Vincentio Saviolo, printed in 1504 : Vincentio Saviolo his 
Practise. In two bookes. The first intreating the use of the 
Hapier and Dagger. Tlie second, of Honor and honorable 
Quarrels. There is in the second book " A discourse most 
necessarie for all Gentlemen that have in regarde their honors 
touching the giving and receiving of the Lie." A chapter re- 
garding "conditionall Lyes" corresponds with Touchstone's 
remarks about the " Lie with circumstance." 

95. books for good manners : several such books were cur- 
rent at the time of the composition of the play. Possibly the 
one which Shakespeare had in mind was that printed in Lon- 
don in 1554, and entitled, A lytle Booke of Good Maners for 



Act V. Sc. iv.] NOTES 185 

Chyldren with interpretation into the vulgare Englysshe tongue 
by B. Whittinton, Poet Laureat. 

122. I give myself : several details regarding the dress of 
Rosalind on this occasion are given in two quotations from 
Lodge : 

" Ganimede (who then ment to discover herself before her 
father) had made her a goune of green, and a kirtle of the 
finest sendal, in such sort that she seemed some heavenly 
Nymph harboured in Country attire." 

" In went Ganimede and drest her self in womans attire, hav- 
ing on a goune of greene, with kirtle of rich sendal, so quaint 
that she seemed Diana triumphing in the Forrest : upon the 
head she wore a chaplet of Roses, which gave her such a grace, 
that she looked like Flora pearkt in the pride of all her floures." 

These extracts from the novel might furnish hints to actresses 
who essay the part of Rosalind to-day. 

127. my love adieu : again notice the fuller details in Lodge, 
"Phoebe, being a bidden guest, made her self as gorgious as 
might be to please the eye of Ganimede ; and Montanus suted 
himself with the cost of many of his flocks to be against that 
day : for then was Ganimed to give Phoebe an answer of her 
loves, and Montanus either to heare the doome of his miserie, 
or the censure of his happinesse." Observe, by the way, the 
varying forms in which the word Ganimede appears. Spelling 
was unsettled in the sixteenth century ; the same word was 
sometimes spelled in half a dozen different ways. Exact lexi- 
cography was then undeveloped. 

143. wedlock-hymn : the marriage is not actually solemnized 
in the play. On the other hand, in the novel the ceremony is 



186 NOTES [Act V. Sc. iv. 

completed : " While every one was amazed with these Comicall 
eventes [the discovery by Rosader that Ganimede was Rosalynde, 
by Montanus that Phoebe would marry him, and by Saladyne 
that Aliena was Alinda, daughter of the usurping king], Coridon 
came skipping in, and told them that the priest was at Church, 
and tarried for their coming. With that Gerismond led the 
way, and the rest followed, where to the admiration of all 
the country swains in Arden, their marriages were solemnly 
solemnized." 

150. High wedlock : the line means, then let marriage be 
highly honored. 

154. Even daughter: paraphrased, "I address you not as 
niece merely, but as daughter, since you are welcome in no less 
degree than if you were my daughter." 

156. fancy : love. 

158. second son : what does the presence in the play of two 
characters named Jaques probably indicate regarding the 
method in the composition of A. Y. L. ? Fernandine, the 
scholar brother of Lodge's novel, interrupts the wedding feast, 
telling of a battle imminent between twelve peers of Geris- 
mond and the usurping Torismond. Then the author relates 
tersely, "To be short, the Peers were conquerors, Torismond's 
army put to flight, and himself slain in battaile." After his 
restoration to the kingdom, Gerismond made Fernandine his 
principal secretary. 

173. offer'st fairly: that is, makest a good contribution. 
How did he contribute a "potent dukedom" to Orlando? 
Who was withholding Oliver's lands ? 

178. every : every one. Compare "any else," I, 2, 149. 



Epilogue] NOTES 187 

179. shrewd : bitter. 
181. states: estates. 

192. You to your former honor: we should write, "I be- 
queath your former honor to you," etc. 

193. deserves : should the verb be singular or plural ? 

198. So, to your pleasures : Adam also receives a reward in 
the novel ; he becomes captain of the king's guard. 



EPILOGUE 

4. no bush : it was an old custom to indicate a wine room by 
a green growing bush outside the door. 

19. If I were a woman : by reference to what is said about 
the stage in Shakespeare's time (p. xxxiii), one can see the idea 
in this "If I were." Rosalind, to be sure, was now in her 
wedding garments, — a beautiful maiden, — but in the age of 
Shakespeare no women appeared on the stage to take any part. 
One of the first efforts to have women take parts on the stage 
was in 1629, when the attempt was characterized by a writer of 
the day as "graceless, impudent, shameful, and unwomanish." 
It took a good deal of time to overcome the prejudice against 
the appearance of women actors. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



The references in this Index are to pages 



A worthy fool, 148. 

Adam's reward, 187. 

Alas, 131. 

Aliena, 136. 

alone, 127. 

ambles withal, 162. 

an, 170. 

antique, 141. 

any else, 131. 

argument, 151. 

Art of the dramatist: "be- 
queathed," 123; "falling in 
love," 128 ; " odds in the man," 
132; "strong a liking," 135; 
"them," 138; "people love 
you," 140; "weary," 141 
"cheerly," and "he," 147 
"Not see him since," 151 
"I'll sleep," and "killed the 
deer," 173; "my counterfeit- 
ing," 177; "so little acquaint- 
ance," 179; "pages," 181; 
"yes," 182. 

at first sight, 168. 

Atalanta's better part, 157. 

Atalanta's heels, 162. 

Ay, 171. 



Balance: "in affection," 281; 

"for I have none to lament," 

etc., 132. 
banquet, 146. 
bay of Portugal, 172. 
be married to-morrow, 181. 
be naught, 124. 
be so, 142. 
bear no cross, 141. 
bear this, 174. 
bear with me, 135. 
beast, 174. 
bequeathed, 123. 
better world, 134. 
Biblical references, 143, 146. 
big round tears, 137. 
bills on their necks, 130. 
blank verse, 170. 
blind rascally boy, i.e. Cupid, 173. 
blind woman, 128. 
books for good manners, 184. 
broken music, 131. 
browner, 175. 
burden, 161. 
burn the lodging, 141. 
by him seal up, 175. 
By no means, sir, 162. 

189 



190 



INDEX TO NOTES 



by the book, 184. 
by the way, 163. 

calling, 1(J5. 

cast lips, 166. 

cave, 176. 

cheerly, 147. 

clap into 't roundly, 181. 

Classical allusions: " blind 

woman," 128; " Troilus," 171. 
come away, 128. 
compact, 183. 
compact of jars, 148. 
concave as a covered goblet, 

166. 
conned them out of rings, 161. 
counsellors, 137. 
counter, 148. 
cover, 145. 
Crosman, 165. 
Cupid, 135. 
Cymbeline, 130. 

deifying, 162. 

Description of Rosalind : "jewel," 

154; "as my heart," 161 ; 

"chestnut," 166; "not very 

tall," and "In parcels," 16!); 

" I give myself," 185. 
deserve well, 135. 
Dialect Notes, 138. 
Diana in the fountain, 172. 
dishonest desire, 181. 
ducdame, 146. 
dulcet diseases, 184. 



eats, 145. 

even, 183. 

every = everyone, 186. 

extent, 151. 

eyne, 174. 

falling in love, 128. 

fancy = love, 186. 

fantasy, 180. 

fare thee well, 133. 

fathom, 172. 

fear they hope, 182. 

feet were lame, 158. 

female, 178. 

first-born of Egypt, 146. 

First Folio, 142, 183. 

foggy south, 168. 

foolish runaways, 139. 

fool's bolt, 184. 

for friends to meet, 160. 

for your love, 127. 

forest of Arden, location of, 126. 

fortune, 148. 

foul, 164. 

Foul is most foul, 168. 

fruit, 149. 

Gargantua's mouth, 161. 

gentle, 134, 143. 

gentleness, 149. 

Go find him out, 150. 

Go to, 172. 

God buy you, 170. 

God rest you merry, 178. 

God save you, brother, 179. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



191 



Good my complexion, 160. 

Goths, 163. 

Grammar and rhetoric : " than 
him," 124; "spoke," 125; "to 
stay," 126; "learn," "I," and 
" ill-fa voredly," 128; "de- 
crees," and " There comes," 
129; "any else," 131; "known," 
and "could give more," 133; 
" than I," and " must I," 134; 
"am," 136; "Which," 137; 
"that gallant," 138; "him," 
142; "that they call," 145; 
"an old poor man," 150; 
"more sounder," 153; "conned 
them out of rings," 161; 
"shall," and "his," 162; 
"that," 163; "who," 166; 
"Falls," "Nor," and "That 
can do hurt," 167; "had 
rather," 170; " Leander, he," 
171; "fathom," 172; "that 
she could," 174; "it," and 
"When that," 175; "we shall 
be flouting," 177; "seeks you," 
178 ; " comes," 180 ; " the only 
prologues," 181; "to wed," 
"from hence," "Good my 
lord," and "like to have 
fought," 183; "You to your 
former honor," and "de- 
serves," 187. 

grape, 177. 

great reckoning, 164. 

greatness of my word, 136. 



Have with you, 134. 

Helen's cheek, 157. 

Hercules, 133. 

Here comes, 153. 

High = highly, 186. 

his reverence, 125. 

honesty, 143. 

humor, 152. 

Humor: "by mine honor," 129; 

"him," etc., 142; "Martext," 

165. 

I must speak, 161. 

icy fang, 136. 

if ever I marry, 181. 

If I were a woman, 187. 

ill-fa voredly, 128. 

ill-roasted egg, 153. 

in affection, 128. 

in Arden, 142. 

in despite of, 134, 146. 

In lieu of, 141. 

Inconsistencies: "the taller," 

134; "too young," 135. 
Irish rat, 158. 
Irish wolves, 180. 
Ivanhoe, 126, 130, 132, 166. 

jests, 134. 

jewel, 154. 

Jove in a thatched house, 163. 

Jove's tree, 161. 

Judas's hair, 165. 

Julius Csesar, 123, 148. 

Juno's swans, 136. 



192 



INDEX TO NOTES 



kill them up, 137. 
Kluge and Lutz's English Ety- 
mology, 170. 

lands, 170. 

Langland's Piers Ploughman, 
165. 

lay hands, 125. 

learn, 128. 

leave to wander, 126. 

leer, 170. 

Lee's Life of Shakespeare, 162. 

lioness, 175. 

List of words to he defined by 
reference to several different 
dictionaries: manage, dearly, 
countenance, hinds, mines, 
orchard, railed, allottery, fleet, 
device, anatomize, misprised, 
124; coz, wit, taxation, amaze, 
deceived, mightily, still, suits, 
humorous, 128 ; frantic, purga- 
tion, likelihood, remorse, still, 
doom, suit, curtle-axe, woo, 
135; pasture, cope, 137; roynish, 
clown, gentlewoman, 138; fond, 
priser, humorous, use, prac- 
tices, butchery, caters, 140; 
graze, mend, feeder, 143; un- 
couth, conceit, desert, 147 ; dial, 
poke, remainder, motley, anat- 
omized, 148; inland hred, 
nurture, waste, effigies, limned, 
149; natural, parlous, in re- 
spect of, perpend, graff , medlar, 



List of words (continued) : — 
virtue, touches, scrip, whoop- 
ing, atomies, burden, se'nnight, 
cony, kindled, courtship, taxed, 
point-device, still, merely, 153; 
atomies, cicatrice, capable im- 
pressing, bugle, proper, carlot, 
167; censure, 170; bastinado, 
bandy, faction, policy, 178; 
incontinent, wrath, conceit, 
grace, conversed, gesture, 
dearly, 180; lively, desperate, 
toward, purgation, dulcet, 
nominate, atone, addressed, 
power, conduct, shrewd, pom- 
pous, convertites, 183. 

Lodge's Rosalynde, 123, 125, 127, 
133, 135, 138, 139, 142, 144, 147, 
150, 153, 154, 157, 158, 167, 168, 
169, 171, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 
180, 181, 182, 185, 186, 187. 

look but in, 162. 

love-shaked, 163. 

Macbeth, 123, 130. 

magician, 180. 

make, 124. 

manage, 123. 

marketable, 129. 

Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 

168. 
Martext, 165. 
matter, 182. 
Me believe it, 163. 
measured swords, 184. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



193 



medlar, 157. 

Memorial Theatre Edition of 

Shakespeare, 173. 
Merchant of Venice, 7!&e,133,159. 
merely, 163. 
merry, 148. 
merry men, 126. 
mild aspect, 17<L 
misconstrues, 134. 
misused our sex, 172. 
modern instances, 150. 
more sounder, 153. 
morning face, 150. 
much Orlando, 174. 
my father's house, 179. 
my verse, 152. 

napkin, 177. 

native dwelling-place, 138. 

nature's sale-work, 167. 

naught, 152. 

Negatives: "I will . . . yet give 
no thousand crowns neither," 
125; "No more do yours," 140; 
" Nor," 167. 

never schooled, 127. 

new court, 126. 

new mistress's brother, 153. 

nine days, 158. 

no beauty, 167. 

no hush, 187. 

no where, 147. 

not a word, 134. 

not kill a fly, 171. 

note, 145. 



O excellent young man, 133. 

o' the shoulder, 170. 

Objective genitive : " for your 

love," 127; "Your," 140. 
odds in the man, 132. 
offer'st fairly, 186. 
old Frederick, 129. 
old gentleman's saying, 177. 
olive trees, 175. 
omittance is no quittance, 169. 
Orchard, 123. 
out of all whooping, 160. 
Ovid's Metamorphoses, 164. 
owe, 144. 

palm tree, 158. 

parlous state, 153. 

Peace, 143. 

penalty of Adam, 136. 

people love you, 140. 

phoenix, 174. 

point-device, 163. 

poor a thousand, 123. 

precious jewel, 137. 

pretty youth, 162, 170. 

prime, 182. 

princess, 138. 

Princess, The, 151. 

prodigal portion, 124. 

pulpiter, 158. 

Puns, 124, 129, 130, 134, 139, 141, 

142, 148, 157, 161, 163, 166. 
push him out of doors, 151. 

rank, 129. 
religious uncle, 162. 



194 



INDEX TO NOTES 



rest damned, 153. 

right butter-women's rank, 156. 

right painted cloth, 161. 

ring time, 182. 

ripe sister, 175. 

Robin Hood, 126. 

sad brow and true maid, 161. 

Sad Lucretia's modesty, 158. 

savage, 149. 

Saviolo, 184. 

Scansion, 134, 183. 

scrip and scrippage, 158. 

second son, 186. 

shrewd, 187. 

shrunk shank, 150. 

similes, 137. 

Sirs, 145. 

so, 125. 

So, to your pleasures, 187. 

South-sea of discovery, 160. 

Specific language : "brawls/ 'and 

"melancholy Jaques," 137; 

"slink," 161; "cheek of 

cream," 167; "contented," 

179. 
stanzos, 144. 
states, 187. 
Subjunctive, 134, 147. 
suddenly, 139. 

that, 163. 

that gallant, 138. 

that they call, 145. 

the gods give us joy, 165. 



the only prologues, 181. 

the taller, 134. 

think against thee, 151. 

thousand crowns, 125. 

thrasonical brag, 179. 

thrice-crowned, 152. 

Twice-told Tales, Pocket Classics 
series, 157. 

Time element: "in the morn- 
ing," 138; " all this while," 170; 
' ' two hours, ' ' 172 ; ' ' Within an 
hour," 175. 

to look you, 145. 

to stay, 126. 

too much of a good thing, 171. 

too young in this, 125. 

Troilus, 171. 

tuft of olives, 168. 

'Twill be, 125. 

two gipsies, 182. 

Under an oak, 175. 
un expressive she, 152. 
unquestionable spirit, 163. 

Vicar of Wakefield, The, 141. 
villain, 124. 

way to heaven, 143. 

weak evils, 150. 

weary very, emended by Rolfe, 

149. 
Wearying thy hearer, 142. 
wedlock-hymn, 185. 
week, 141. 
Well said, 129. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



195 



What, 127, 143, 166. 
What-ye-call't, 165. 
Whittinton, 185. 
Women on the stage, 187. 



You are a fool, 136. 

your father's remembrance, 125. 

your pearl, 183. 

youthful wages, 141. 



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